10-05-2025
Remains of man mysteriously found dead in Tampa 28 years ago to be returned to Mexico
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A man's remains will finally be returned home to his family over a quarter century after his mysterious death.
The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office said Rodolfo Barcenas Guerrero was found dead in Tampa in the fall of 1997 near 43rd Street and 7th Avenue.
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A resident alien card and social security card found with his remains clued investigators in on his identity. However, when they contacted the Mexican Consulate in November 1997 to try to find his family, they had no luck.
The cause and manner of Guerrero's death were ruled 'undetermined.' Still, authorities never gave up on trying to find his family.
Guerrero's case was one of many cold cases recently revisited.
The medical examiner's office has been able to crack over three dozen cold cases with recent breakthroughs in DNA technology, but said all this one took was 'the right people in the right places.'
Last year, the medical examiner's office reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as the Mexican Consulate, with renewed hopes of solving the case.
Officials said Customs and Border Protection's Missing Migrant program then found Guerrero's sister in Guanajuato, a Mexican state just northwest of Mexico City.
She submitted a cheek swab to compare against his DNA, and it was a match.
The medical examiner's office said Friday the Mexican Consulate was arranging for Guerrero's cremated remains to be returned to his family in Guanajuato.
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