Border agents lay out a day of horror leading to the discovery of a frozen family
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In the second day of a trial in the Federal Courthouse in Fergus Falls, prosecutors began laying out their case against two men accused of human smuggling that resulted in the death of an entire family.
Federal investigators say Hari Patel and Steve Shand were part of a larger organization smuggling illegal migrants from India into the US through Canada. In January 2022, a family of four froze to death in a snowstorm while trying to cross the border
The first witness was the director of the North Dakota Weather Network, Daryl Richison, who has more than three decades experience in climatology and meteorology.
He described the conditions on the night of Jan. 19, 2022, as extreme. He said the low temperatures combined with high wind can blast ice crystals into people’s eyes, making it hard to see. He also said in those conditions it’s hard for children to maintain body core temperatures. Two of the people who died that night were 11 and 3 years old.
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The next witness was Troy Larson, a mechanic at a gas plant near the spot where the migrants walked across the border. While it is remote, it is well lit at night and can be seen from some distance.
Larson said he encountered one of the accused, Steve Shand, in a 15-passenger van stuck in a ditch less than a mile from the Canadian border. When he returned with a tractor to pull the vehicle out, he noticed out-of-state plates on Shand’s vehicle.
Shand told him he was on his way to Winnipeg to visit friends. Larson said he noticed someone wrapped in a blanket in the back seat and what appeared to be a boy in the front. He said both appeared to be of Indian descent. Larson said Shand declined more help. As Larson left, he saw a border patrol vehicle pull up.
Border Patrol testimony
The court then heard from Christopher Oliver, the Border Patrol officer in the vehicle. He told the court he is experienced in tracking and looking for signs people have passed through an area.
He said the patrol had been on the lookout for people coming across the border ever since authorities found a backpack with a price tag attached marked in Indian rupees.
He had been searching the area after the snowstorm for humanitarian purposes when Shand’s large vehicle, and his passengers, caught his attention.
Shand told Oliver he had been sitting in a ditch for five hours waiting for help when two people in the remote area knocked on his window and asked to get in to keep warm. Oliver said none of the people, including Shand, were dressed properly for the cold weather.
Oliver was eventually joined by Border Intelligence Dan Huguley and other agents. Shand was also taken into custody.
Huguley then took the stand and said while processing the van, he and another agent were suddenly aware of dark figures set against the white of the snowfield coming toward them. It was a second group of migrants coming over the border. One of the women was in medical distress and was transported with another man to the hospital. The woman was later airlifted to the Twin Cities for treatment.
Sinking heart
Huguley said once they left, he discovered someone had left a backpack with diapers, wipes and toys in his vehicle.
He said his heart sank.
When the prosecution asked Huguley why he reacted the way he did, he said because “no one carries diapers and wipes without children.” He immediately told supervisors who relayed the news to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about a likely missing group. Authorities from both sides of the border began looking.
Huguley said despite wearing $4,000 in foul weather gear, he was still cold. Eventually they got word the Mounties had found the bodies of the Patel family: two adults and their children, an 11-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy.
Border Patrol Agent Kevin Backes told the court how he connected the migrants who came over on Jan. 19, with other groups who had preceded them using photographs taken a week earlier with unique boot prints linked to the migrants in custody.
Shand’s store and motel receipts and car rental records were used to link him to both groups. Backes said the detained migrants all wore the same rubber boots, jackets, and face coverings. He said most were wearing just jeans despite the cold.
The final witness of the day was not part of the Border Patrol.
Rajinder Singh admitted in court he had made $400,000 smuggling people. He told the court the preferred route into the US was through British Columbia into Washington state, but a series of landslides made that more difficult, so the organizer of the smuggling ring pivoted.
He started having migrants cross into U.S. through Minnesota December 2021-January 2022. Singh will return to the witness stand Wednesday.