Girl Who Drowned After Falling Into An El Paso Canal Identified

Officials from the El Paso Police Department said the girl who was pulled from a south-central El Paso canal and died at the hospital less than a day later has been identified.

She was 5-year-old Eva Jaredzi Beltran-Aguilar, of Juarez.

A statement from El Paso police said the girl’s mother went to the international bridge to ask about her missing daughter and husband.

It is unknown how the girl fell into the water, and whether a body recovered from the canal Wednesday was her father’s.

Initially, crews were called to the 1900 Block of Paisano Drive at 6:35 p.m. on Monday after Border Patrol agents spotted a man entering the canal in that area. After searching that area, rescuers moved two miles downstream to continue their search.

That’s when officials said the rescuers found the girl floating in the water.

Rescuers were initially able to resuscitate the girl, but she later died at University Medical Center after she was taken off of life support on Tuesday morning. Workers there named her “Esperanza,” which means “Hope” in Spanish.

Meanwhile, authorities continued their search for the little girl’s family and released a more detailed description.

The girl was identified as being 4 to 5 years old, very clean, 3 feet 7 inches tall, medium build, brown curly or wavy hair, dark brown eyes, a scar on the left side of her upper lip, and last seen wearing a red and white dress.

EPPD also released a picture of her dress Wednesday, in hopes someone would recognize it and help identify the girl.

By the afternoon, the girl’s mother went to the Paso Del Norte Bridge in downtown El Paso seeking information on her daughter and husband. That led to Eva Jaredzi’s identification.