The driver’s acknowledgment was revealed to a federal informant by an alleged conspirator in the case, the complaint states.
The men were exchanging pictures, including one of a “truck load manifest,” and discussing whether the driver should go to the “same spot,” the complaint states, adding Martinez sent GPS coordinates to a place in Laredo, Texas.
Martinez “initiated a conversation about the death of several individuals inside a tractor trailer” and admitted to being involved, according to the complaint, citing information shared by a confidential informant in communication with Martinez, who was already the subject of a Homeland Security Investigations probe.
Martinez said the semitruck’s driver was unaware the air conditioning unit had stopped working, the informant told investigators, the complaint states.
Among the survivors, two were in critical condition Friday, with another in serious condition and another in good condition, officials at University Hospital in San Antonio and Methodist Hospital Metropolitan said. Six more migrants from the truck had been in treatment Tuesday at Baptist Medical Center in San Antonio and CHRISTUS Health’s Children’s Hospital of San Antonio and its Santa Rosa Hospital.
“None of these people were able to extricate themselves out of the truck,” Fire Chief Charles Hood said. “So, they were still in there, awaiting help, when we arrived … meaning just being too weak — weakened state — to actually get out and help themselves.”
The case is “the worst human-smuggling event in the United States,” said Craig Larrabee, the Homeland Security Investigations San Antonio acting special agent in charge.
“In the past, smuggling organizations were mom-and-pop,” Larrabee told CNN. “Now, they are organized and tied in with the cartels. So, you have a criminal organization who has no regard for the safety of the migrants. They are treated like commodities rather than people.”
CNN’s Carolyn Sung and Rebekah Riess contributed to this story.