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Editor's note: This story was updated on May 15, 2026 at 8:50 a.m. to include details provided in a press conference in Laredo on Thursday, May 14, 2026.
The City of Laredo gave an update Thursday in the ongoing investigation into the deaths of 6 people discovered in a boxcar at a Union Pacific rail yard in Laredo on Sunday.
Officials have confirmed five of the six victims were from Mexico and Honduras.
The youngest was a 14-year-old Honduran boy.
Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño said at a press conference that preliminary reports indicate all the victims died before arriving to Laredo.
"But they were discovered here after hours of suffering and eventually dying several hours before arriving from what is commonly known as heat stroke — severe heat stroke," Treviño said. Official results from the Webb County medical examiner are still pending.
A seventh victim was also discovered along railroad tracks in San Antonio on Monday.
Police gave a possible timeline of the events that led to the deaths.
Police say the train departed Thursday from Long Beach, California. They believe the individuals entered the boxcar in Del Rio last Saturday. The train then traveled through San Antonio before arriving and being found in Laredo Sunday.
Laredo Police Chief Miguel Rodriguez said the department quickly realized the incident was a result of a human smuggling operation.
The investigation is being led by federal partners, including U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It remains active and ongoing.
"This investigation is very promising to bringing those responsible for this happening to justice," said Rodriguez.
Officials urged immigrants not to use smugglers to cross into the U.S
The Webb County Medical Examiner first reported having identified five of the six individuals who died in the Union Pacific boxcar in Laredo on Sunday.
The victims include five males and one female ranging from 14 to 56 years old. One male has not yet been identified.
Investigators said three individuals originated from Mexico and two from Honduras, including the 14-year-old.
The female victim was determined to have succumbed to hyperthermia — an extreme overheating of the body. It's highly probable that this was the cause of death for the entire group.
The remaining exams were expected to be completed on Tuesday.
A person who was found dead near the railroad tracks in San Antonio's Southwest Side on Monday is believed to be connected to the case of the six people found dead in Laredo on Sunday.
In a press conference, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said that the person is a male who carried some type of identification from Mexico, but he does not know the identity of the man.
Salazar said Union Pacific Railroad Police and agents from ICE's Homeland Security Investigations discovered the body in the 9600 block of Wolf Road.
He shared that the containers on Union Pacific trains contain sensors. An alert was received at "some point over the weekend," indicating a train car door was opened.
He said that a body could have fallen or been thrown out of the open car door.
When the report of the bodies found in Laredo came through, officials began to patrol areas in San Antonio and discovered the body of the man.
"I believe there was a phone call made to the SAPD from someone in another state ... from a relative that was believed to be in the load (in the boxcar in Laredo), and it was getting very, very hot ... and that they were having some physical trouble," said Salazar.
He added that "now it is believed ... that the person that shot that message out of town was among the six deceased" in Laredo.
On Sunday, the Laredo Police Department said the bodies were discovered at around 3 p.m. during a routine rail car inspection by train employees.
Laredo police and fire fighters responded to the scene. Laredo police officer Joe Baeza says all six individuals were discovered perished at the Union Pacific rail yard.
"None of them were transported, he said. “There were no live people who were discovered in that same car."
A press release from Webb County indicated that Medical Examiner Dr. Corinne Stern had provided an update on the victims, including five men and one woman.
Temperatures in Laredo reached the upper 90s on Sunday. The city is home to one of the nation’s top trade hubs.
City of Laredo Mayor Dr. Victor D. Treviño shared a statement on Monday about the incident and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.
This is a developing story.
