March 6, 2008
Man Dies in Trailer Fire

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

A camp trailer fire of unknown origin in the early morning hours of February 24 took the life of a 22-year-old man at the Western Elite Recycling site on U.S. Highway 93, about 33 miles south of Alamo.

Captain Gary Davis of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department said the investigation is still ongoing as the body was burned beyond recognition. The man’s name has not been released until positive DNA identification can be established with assumed family members in Mexico. Davis said the department has exhausted their efforts to find dental records and the U.S. Consulate in Mexico City is helping to arrange DNA samples from family members.

Three men, including the victim, who worked at Western Elite lived in two trailers on the western edge of the property. The trailers had no electricity or propane, but the victim’s co-workers, living in a second trailer nearby, reported they had used a generator that night to watch some soccer football on TV and power a small space heater in the victim’s trailer. However, they turned the generator off about 11 pm when they went to bed. About 2 am, the two other men were awakened by a voice, or shouts. They found the camp trailer engulfed in flames and didn’t hear anymore shouts. Captain Davis said during the excitement caused by the fire, a front-end loader was used to push the burning trailer away from the neighboring trailer. It wasn’t until daylight that the charred remains of the man were found among the completely burned out trailer and the Sheriff’s Department was notified.