Roma man charged in deadly Edcouch smuggling incident during flooding

This screenshot from a criminal complaint shows a Border Patrol agent rescuing a person in the country illegally who was swept away in flood waters during a smuggling attempt in Edcouch on Thursday, March 28, 2025. (The Monitor)

Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested an 18-year-old Roma man for his alleged role in a fatal smuggling incident in Edcouch where a woman and 14-year-old child drowned in flood waters, according to court records and a news release.

Vicente Garcia Jr. is charged with transporting people in the country illegally with a vehicle resulting in death for the fatal incident last Friday.

On Saturday, authorities arrested Jose Alexis Baeza-Combaluzier on the same charge. He is in the country illegally and residing in McAllen, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

The smuggling event began at 8:45 a.m. that day as Border Patrol agents were conducting surveillance in McAllen at the intersection of Expressway 83 and Showers Road.

They watched as Garcia, who was known to agents, was driving a white Ford F-150 drive to an apartment complex located on South 10th Street behind a McDonalds, according to the complaint.

That’s where he met up with Baeza-Combaluzier who was driving a black Ford Explorer. The agents watched the men conduct “a body swap” of people between the vehicles, the complaint stated.

Baeza-Combaluzier then left, drove north toward Edinburg and then turned east on Ramseyer and headed toward Elsa.

“The vehicle eventually turned south on Engelman Gardens Road, where it stopped at a low spot in a flooded road,” the complaint stated.

Border Patrol agents tailing the vehicle then approached and announced themselves when Baeza-Combaluzier accelerated and drove through the flooded area.

“Agents then drove south approximately half a mile, and discovered the vehicle had driven into the canal,” the complaint stated.

This screenshot from a criminal complaint shows an aerial view of a flooded canal where two people in the country illegally drowned during a smuggling attempt in Edcouch on Thursday, March 28, 2025. (The Monitor)

Border Patrol agents were able to rescue five of the people in the country illegally, including Baeza-Combaluzier, from the flooded canal.

They found the body of Elena Cataria Morale floating further east in the canal while the 14-year-old boy’s body was recovered from the vehicle on Saturday after authorities were able to pull it out of the canal.

Baeza-Combaluzier later told agents he was recruited to drive the vehicle, but got lost that day and ended up at the flood road. He said he drove away because he got scared, according to the complaint. He is being held without bond.

The circumstances of Garcia’s arrest aren’t immediately clear, but Baeza-Combaluzier told investigators Garcia recruited him to be a driver while he was staying at a stash house, the complaint said.

Garcia was scheduled to make a first appearance Wednesday morning in McAllen federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.

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