Woman Suffocates in Smuggler’s Packed Van
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Immigration authorities were searching for an illegal immigrant smuggler responsible for the death of a woman who suffocated in his packed van.
Maria Oralia Varela Padilla, a 38-year-old mother of five, died about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday after she was smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border in a van with 30 other people, officials said.
The Mexico City woman and her husband, Ezequiel Martinez Montiel, were abandoned in a remote area near Fallbrook after begging to be released from the van so they could breathe.
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