Woman charged in death of migrants inside shipping container at Texas rail yard
A woman turned herself into federal authorities weeks after she was indicted in the deaths of six migrants who attempted to enter the U.S. in a boxcar in May, investigators said Wednesday.
Karina Garcia, 37, of Del Rio, Texas, surrendered herself Sunday, nearly a month after she was indicted on two federal counts for allegedly transporting undocumented immigrants, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas said.
Garcia was allegedly part of a group that transported migrants from Latin America to the U.S. for at least three years, according to Simmons. The group were paid thousands of dollars to transport the migrants, the U.S. Attorney's office alleged.
On May 12, an employee at a Union Pacific rail yard in Laredo, Texas, discovered six migrants dead inside a boxcar.
The victims included a 14-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man from Honduras, a 29-year-old woman and two men, aged 45 and 56, from Mexico, according to the Webb County Medical Examiner's Office.
Federal investigators indicted 11 suspects, four of whom live in the U.S., in connection with the deaths in July. Nine of the suspects were arrested before Garcia turned herself in and one is still at large, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Garcia appeared in federal court Tuesday afternoon in Texas.
Attorney information for Garcia was not immediately available, and it is not clear if she has entered a plea.
-ABC News' Ivan Pereira and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
