FORKS, Wash. (AP) — Benjamin Roldan Salinas, a forest worker in the country illegally, leapt into the frigid Sol Duc River to escape a pursuing U. S. Border Patrol Agent, disappearing into the fast-moving waters.
For more than three weeks, his family, friends and volunteers — including other illegal immigrants — scoured the dense forest along the swollen river’s banks for any sign of him.
The search ended June 4 when a family friend spotted the 43-year-old Salinas’ bloated, decomposing body entangled in roots downstream, according to the sheriff’s report.
His death heightened tensions in what has become a protracted engagement between the Border Patrol and the immigrant population of Forks — the small, remote Washington town best known as the fictional home of the vampire series “Twilight.”
