Operation Identification by Kevin C. Downs

Image of the refrigerated conta... TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Image of the refrigerated container that contains migrant bodies that were found in Laredo, TX that were transferred to Dr. Kate Spradley's team for identification. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.Image of the refrigerated container that contains migrant bodies that were found in Laredo, TX that were transferred to Dr. Kate Spradley's team for identification. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.Image of the refrigerated container that contains migrant bodies that were found in Laredo, TX that were transferred to Dr. Kate Spradley's team for identification. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

About Operation Identification (OpID)

Image of the refrigerated container that contains migrant bodies that were found in Laredo, TX that were transferred to Dr. Kate Spradley's team for identification. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.Image of the refrigerated container that contains migrant bodies that were found in Laredo, TX that were transferred to Dr. Kate Spradley's team for identification. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.Image of the refrigerated container that contains migrant bodies that were found in Laredo, TX that were transferred to Dr. Kate Spradley's team for identification. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Sheriff's Deputies open...TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Sheriff's Deputies open the refrigerated content that contains migrant bodies, as Dr. Kate Spradley's team enters the refrigerated container to remove bodies to start to work on identifying them in the field morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's tea...TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team sets up the field morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.(OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Sheriff's Deputies open the refrigerated content that contains migrant bodies, as Dr. Kate Spradley's team enters the refrigerated container to remove bodies to start to work on identifying them in the field morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team sets up the field morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.(OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team sets up the field morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.(OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Sheriff's Deputies open the refrigerated content that contains migrant bodies, as Dr. Kate Spradley's team enters the refrigerated container to remove bodies to start to work on identifying them in the field morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine badly decomposed bodies . Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine badly decomposed bodies . Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine personal effects of migrants who have died on the border. This knapsack belongs to a man from Honduras who the FBI was able to identify through fingerprints taken by Dr. Spradley’s team. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine personal effects of migrants who have died on the border. This knapsack and its contents belongs to a man from Honduras who the FBI was able to identify through fingerprints taken by Dr. Spradley’s team. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine personal effects of a man from Honduras who the FBI was able to identify through fingerprints taken by Dr. Spradley’s team. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team take fingerprints and DNA samples for the FBI and therefore the FBI, within 4 hours, were able to identify the individual as a man from Honduras. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine personal effects of migrants who died at the border. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's wit...TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's with her team . Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Sheriff's Deputies open the refrigerated content that contains migrant bodies, as Dr. Kate Spradley's team enters the refrigerated container to remove bodies to start to work on identifying them in the field morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley walks through... TX 78852 (Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley walks through the refrigerated container, taking a count of how many migrant bodies that she and her team will work on for the day, identifying them. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852 (Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine the hand of badly decomposed bodies and takes photos of them. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Sheriff's Deputies open the refrigerated content that contains migrant bodies, as Dr. Kate Spradley's team enters the refrigerated container to remove bodies to start to work on identifying them in the field morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's tea...X 78852.(.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team uses WD40 to rehydrate migrants' hands to get fingerprints from them. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project.86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine fingerprints of badly decomposed bodies and takes photos of them. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine badly decomposed bodies and takes photos of them. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team take fingerprints and DNA samples for the FBI and therefore the FBI with in 4 hours were able to identify the individual as a man from Hoduras. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine fingerprints of badly decomposed bodies and takes photos of them. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team take fingerprints and DNA samples for the FBI and therefore the FBI with in 4 hours were able to identify the individual as a man from Hoduras. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Migrant bodies inside of a refr... Pass, TX (Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Migrant bodies inside of a refrigerator truck, waiting for Dr. Kate Spradley and her team to fingerprint them and take DNA samples, so they can identify the bodies and send them back. Maverick County. Eagle Pass, TX (Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine badly decomposed bodies . Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examines fingerprints that they have taken from migrant bodies to try to help identify them so that they can be sent back to their families. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

A helicopter flies over the mob... TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

A helicopter flies over the mobile morgue unit of Dr. Spradley. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley'site ...TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley'site at the mobile morgue. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

On the last day of OpID in Mave...TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

On the last day of OpID in Maverick County, TX, Dr. Kate Spradley's team received a message that a 4-day old body of a 42 year-old woman was found near El Indio, TX in Maverick County, TX. She was badly decomposed, covered in maggots. Dr. Spradley's team took the body to get fingerprints and DNA . As they were doing so, they found items in her personal effects such as her ID, passport from Mexico and a blanket with photos which possibly could contain a photo of the woman. There were other personal items as well as food. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Dr. Kate Spradley's team examine personal effects of a 42 year-old migrant woman, who was found in El Indio and who had passed away 4 days earlier before being found and bought to the mobile morgue of Dr. Spradley by the Medical examiner. They were pulled out of her bag. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852..(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

On the last day of OpID in Mave...X 78852.(.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

On the last day of OpID in Maverick County, TX, Dr. Kate Spradley's team received a message that a 4-day old body of a 42 year-old woman was found near El Indio, TX in Maverick County, TX. She was badly decomposed, covered in maggots. Dr. Spradley's team took the body to get fingerprints and DNA . As they were doing so, they found items in her personal effects such as her ID, passport from Mexico and a blanket with photos which possibly could contain a photo of the woman. There were other personal items as well as food. Dr. Spradley is a biological anthropologist and forensic anthropologist at Texas State University who leads the Operation Identification (OpID) project. 86 TX-131 Eagle Pass TX 78852.(.(Kevin C Downs/Redux)

Kevin C. Downs

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