Dead in the Desert (2012)

In 2011, the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) recovered 184 dead migrants from southern Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Dead in the Desert takes you inside the Pima County OME, as medical investigators attempt to identify and repatriate the bodies of two migrants recovered from the desert on June 26, 2011. Join Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Gregory Hess and his team of investigators and forensic pathologists as they look for clues that may lead to the identity of two men. John Doe: ML11-1217 was recovered in the rural community of Arivaca, Ariz. after falling from a 60-foot cliff while trying to evade Border Patrol agents. John Doe: ML11-1215 was found on the Tohono O'odham Nation, which borders Mexico. He was lying under a mesquite tree with nearly all his clothes strewn about the tree and the ground around him. Dead in the Desert captures the real struggle faced by those who cross the Sonoran Desert in search of a better life - and the unfortunate souls who die trying.