Smuggling tie mulled in deaths (Arizona Republic)

Smuggling tie mulled in deaths
6 bodies found in West Valley since mid-Feb.
JJ Hensley
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 10, 2008 12:00 AM

A spate of bodies that have turned up recently in the West Valley has Maricopa County sheriff's officials concerned that human smugglers are once again resorting to deadly violence.
The Sheriff's Office is investigating the killings of six people whose bodies have surfaced in locations around the West Valley in the past three weeks.
Sheriff's authorities said some of the tactics used in the murders, including a male victim found on Feb. 26 near an Avondale farm with his hands tied behind his back and a bullet wound to the back of his head, resemble those used by smugglers.
Three of the victims were determined to be in the country illegally; the identity and immigration status of the latest two, whose charred bodies were discovered in a car near Buckeye last week, are not yet known, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.
"We're going to do the best we can to solve those cases," Arpaio said. "Every life is precious."
A similar string of killings struck the Valley five years ago - nine bodies appeared along Interstate 10 near Miller Road in Buckeye. None of those cases has been solved.
Arpaio regularly touts his office as the only local agency in the Valley enforcing immigration law.
But critics have contended his aggressive policies toward immigrants will create a backlash in the community and make it more difficult to get public cooperation that is crucial to solving crimes that involve suspects and/or victims who are undocumented.
Arpaio said that deputies have received assistance from other illegal immigrants in the Valley regarding two of the murders and that those immigrants might not face deportation.
"They still talk to us," Arpaio said. "We're not deporting the witnesses. When people do come forward with us and give us good information, there are ways of working with ICE."
Frustration and fear strike residents in the area, a pocket of the southwest Valley where farmland and older Avondale homes butt against new developments to the east and Estrella Mountain to the south.
"What boggles my mind is all these bodies. This has been going on forever," said Isidoro Del Castillo, a lifelong Avondale resident. "It doesn't seem like (law enforcement) is doing much about it. It's kind of scary because you don't know who's going to be next."