CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Authorities continue to search for answers as to how a raft with the mummified body of a Cuban national floated to the Texas coast. It remains unclear how many may have drowned along the way.
The search for answers began in early October when a shrimping boat near Port Aransas reported to the U.S. Coast Guard having found a raft with an apparent body inside. Authorities rushed to the area where they recovered a heavily decomposed body and various pieces of a raft. The remains were taken to the Nueces County Sheriff’s Office where detectives combed through missing person’s reports near the Texas coast in an attempt to identify the victim.
In an interview with Breitbart Texas, Heraldo Peña, a forensic investigator with Nueces County stated that they have not been able to get a positive ID on the body because the exposure to intense sunlight and sea water had mummified the human remains. Peña revealed that the body had a tattoo of the Virgin Mary called “our Lady of Charity of Cobre” and in the raft authorities found two Cuban identification cards.
One of the ID cards belongs to a man named Juan Antonio Pupo Pupo–while the other one belongs to his brother, Amauris Pupo Pupo. It remains unclear if the body found in the raft belongs to one of the Pupo Pupo brothers.
Federal and local authorities were not able to match the body’s fingerprints to any missing persons cases. Investigators believe the case may be tied to the disappearance of six Cubans who left the island on May 13. The missing Cubans were part of a larger group out of which six others were captured by Mexican authorities and deported back to Cuba. The body of the Cuban migrant was buried last week in a pauper’s grave in Nueces County.
Tony Aranda is a contributor for Breitbart Texas.