MI MI - Berrien Co, *GRAPHIC*, Wht/HispMale 20-40, UP8396, Car Accident, scar, tattoo, Jun'02

[Gardener1850]

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP8396 Male, Multiple

Estimated Age Range 20-40 Years
Demographics
SexMale
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian, Hispanic / Latino

Hair Color Black
Head Hair Description Short black hair
Facial Hair Description mustache
Left Eye Color Brown

Scar/mark
Scar on left arm from wrist to bicep-possibly a chemical burn.

Tattoo
Tattoo on back of right hand between index finger and thumb (unreadable letters)

Estimated Year of Death: 2002
Estimated PMI Minutes

Height 5' 4"(64 inches) , Estimated
Weight 145 lbs, Estimated

Clothing
Black jeans, white tank top, blue and white plaid button up shirt.

Footwear
White socks

Circumstances
Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found June 19, 2002
NamUs Case Created January 18, 2011

Location Found Map
Location Michigan
Berrien County

Circumstances of Recovery
Multiple traffic fatality. All others killed in rollover accident were identified as illegal aliens. The vehicle was a 1994 GMC Surburban, light blue in color with Arizona plates.
Details of Recovery

Inventory of Remains All parts recovered
Condition of Remains Recognizable face

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Otterly]

I was able to find a local news article from 2002. There's nothing too helpful in it, but the Suburban had 14 people in it at the time of the crash! That seems like a classic human smuggling tactic: packing in as many people as possible. It says police were unsure who was the driver and that the migrants may have been from the Chicago area. It was headed eastbound, so it wasn't coming from the Canadian border. I wouldn't be surprised if the UID was the driver/smuggler as it would make sense as none of those being smuggled in the SUV would know much about the coyote. (I know of other cases where the smuggler in a vehicle accident full of illegal immigrants has gone unidentified, none this far from the border though.)

link: Four people are killed and 11 injured in head-on Interstate 94 crash

At the time of the article's publishing, four of the Suburban's occupants had died. As can be seen in the photograph on NAMUS, it was a gnarly accident. "The driver apparently overcorrected after running over warning rumble strips on the right edge of the road, police said. The SUV veered onto the grassy center median, went into the air and speared a westbound semi-truck several feet off the ground. The SUV then slid down the side of the moving semi, came to rest on the pavement and collided head-on with a westbound pickup that had been traveling behind the semi..."