Woman migrant found on border wall choked to death, medical examiner finds

PHOENIX (AP) - An autopsy says a Mexican woman found hanging on the border wall in Arizona choked to death in an accident when she became entangled in climbing gear.

That’s what the Pima County Medical Examiner’s concluded in its report for the Cochise County Sheriff’s office.

The 31-year-old Griselda Anais Verduzco Armenta was found suspended from the border wall on April 11. She was entrapped by a cord, tie-down straps, and seat belt around her neck, chest and arms.

Previously, the Cochise County Sheriff’s office said Verduzco Armenta hung upside down “a significant amount of time” from the wall near the eastern Arizona city of Douglas before authorities discovered her and brought her down.

The report this week said she had abrasions to the head, torso and extremities, contusions, a leg laceration and a fractured vertebra.

Authorities did not describe the wall that Verduzco Armenta was trying to climb.