LORDSBURG, N.M. — A U.S. Border Patrol agent on duty in a remote part of New Mexico was found dead last week, federal authorities confirmed Saturday.
The agent was identified as Johan Mordan, 26. He was found “unresponsive lying on a trail” during a search that was launched after Customs and Border Protection officials lost communications with him, KVIA-TV reported.
An autopsy will determine the cause of death, CBP officials said.
Mordan was working in Hidalgo County, in an area known as the “boot heel” of New Mexico, KVIA reported. He had been with the agency since July 2019, and worked out of the Lordsburg Station, officials said in a statement.
CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan announced the death in a Twitter message.
“It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss,” Morgan wrote, adding that the agent had “served his country and community with honor.”
There was no mention of a crime in CBP’s press release.
Mordan was the second border agent from the El Paso sector to die this year while on duty in the boot heel area of New Mexico. In January, Alfredo Nino, 48, was found unresponsive at a remote outpost in Animas, KVIA reported.
