The death of an on-duty Border Patrol agent earlier this month was the result of an underlying heart condition.
Agent Robert Hotten, 44, died from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, Pima County medical examiner Gregory Hess told the Washington Examiner Wednesday afternoon.
Hess described Hotten’s condition as the narrowing of the coronary arteries that is an “age-related change” not unusual for someone in his or her mid-40s.
“Most sudden, unexpected deaths in people that are otherwise thought to be well are of cardiovascular origin,” Hess, who performs autopsies for both Pima and Santa Cruz counties, said in a phone call.
Following the death, the top regional Border Patrol official told reporters at a press conference Hotten appeared to have died from a fall and a head injury.
“When Agent Hotten was found unresponsive, it appears that he had fallen and may have hit his head on some rocks, but, again, at this stage we don’t know that was the cause of death,” Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent of the Tucson Sector Roy Villareal said at the time.
Hess said Hotten did fall and had a couple scrapes but said it was “likely a terminal fall” in which he collapsed during the heart incident.
Hotten, a 10-year veteran of the agency, died early Oct. 7 after he went missing during a multiagent operation in the Patagonia Mountains in southeastern Arizona’s Santa Cruz County. He had been deployed to the area with two other agents to respond to a sensor that went off. Agents use hidden sensors to alert them when smugglers or migrants are traversing remote regions.
The agents arrived at Mount Washington at about 1 p.m. local time on Oct. 6. Border Patrol said the agents did not stay together, and it is not clear if Hotten stopped responding to his radio or at what point his colleagues started to search for him. Hotten was separated from the group for up to three hours and was found at 4:15 p.m.
“The agents initiated CPR and then continued for over two hours. Because of the remoteness and the rugged terrain, we were unable to airlift Agent Hotten in the initial location that we found him. We were also impeded in our ability to drop off medical equipment,” Villareal continued.
Border Patrol parent agency Customs and Border Protection did not respond to requests for comment.
Hotten is the second agent to die while on duty this year, after Agent Donna Doss was fatally struck during a traffic stop in Central Texas in early February.
Hotten’s death is the 129th time an agent has died in the line of duty since the Border Patrol was created in 1925.
Villareal said the FBI was leading the investigation into the agent’s death because of Hotten’s job as a federal law enforcement official. The FBI has not released additional information.
