Heartbreaking details have emerged about the final moments of an Indian family who froze to death near the Canadian border.
Jagdish Patel, 39 and Vaishailben Patel, 37, and their children Vihangi, 11, and Dharkmik, three, were found dead in a field along the US-Canada border on January 19, 2022, after temperatures plummeted to as low as -40F.
New details about their tragic deaths have now surfaced during the trial of human smugglers, Steve Stand and Harshkumar Patel, who were found guilty on Friday.
Daniel Huguley, a US Border Patrol intelligence agent, recalled his heart sinking when he discovered the Patel family's belongings buried in a backpack in the snow.
'First thing I saw … was that diaper,' he testified before a US District Court, according to The National Post. Photos were also shown in court of diapers, wipes, mittens, and two little toy trucks - one red and one white.
Huguley alerted his supervisor that he believed more people were missing in the field between Manitoba and Minnesota.
A few hours later, the family's bodies were found just meters from the border by Canadian police, with the little boy being cradled in his father's arms.
Shand and Harshkumar - who is of no relation to the family - were accused of participating in a smuggling ring between December 2021 to January 2022 that brought Indian nationals to Canada on student visas before helping them cross the border into the US.
Jagdish Patel, 39 and Vaishailben Patel, 37, and their children Vihangi, 11, and Dharkmik, three, were found dead in a field along the US-Canada border on January 19, 2022, as temperatures had plummeted to as low as -40F
New details about their gruesome deaths have surfaced as the trial of two smugglers, Steve Stand (right) and Harshkumar Patel (left), who is not related to the family, began
Both were found guilty on Friday of conspiracy to bring noncitizens to the US, conspiracy to transport aliens, attempted transportation of aliens into the US for commercial advantage, and aiding and abetting the attempted transportation of aliens in America.
The verdict was handed down in little over an hour after the jury went into deliberations, according to The Star Tribune.
Shand had been driving a passenger van when it got stuck in the snow far from a legal crossing just south of the border.
When Troy Larson, who worked at a nearby gas plant, approached the van to tow it out of the ditch, Stand had told him 'they were going to visit friends in Winnipeg,' the former testified.
Larson had offered to let Shand and the two others warm up in a nearby building, but the driver declined. But they didn't get far as border patrol agents arrived on scene and Shand once again repeated his story.
Border Patrol Agent Christopher Oliver said Stand's story didn't make sense as the crew were far from a main highway and the license, passports, and student visas checked by him didn't indicate they had legally entered the US in the first place, The National Post reported.
Shortly after, Oliver received a call saying border-crossers had been found in a field. When asked if there were more, Shand had told Oliver there wasn't.
'People will die if you don't tell me the truth,' Oliver recalled telling Shand.
Five more people were found by other agents, including a woman suffering from hypothermia who was struggling to stay conscious, Oliver testified.
Daniel Huguley, a US Border Patrol intelligence agent, recalled his heart sinking after he discovered the Patel family's personal belongings buried in a backpack in the snow, including diapers, wipes, mittens, and two little toy trucks (pictured: contents of the backpack)
A photo of the survivors show how the Indian nationals were inadequately dressed for the blizzard
Huguley then found the family's backpack, which extended the search for the missing migrants. They were found frozen to death in a nearby field.
The group of migrants had allegedly called Fenil Patel - who is accused of running the smuggling ring and is not related to the family - who said he would get someone to pick them up.
They had reportedly told Fenil they couldn't find the driver in the blizzard and didn't have enough clothes to keep them warm, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Fenil had allegedly told them to go back to the Canadian side as he was worried they would get picked up without visas, but no one came their rescue.
'[Fenil] said that he told them: "Come back to where you came from and I’ll [have someone] pick you up there,"' Rajinder Paul Singh, who worked for the smuggling ring for eight years but was not involved in the 2022 trip, testified.
'He lied to them.'
Indian authorities are working to extradite Fenil - who faces charges in Canada but not in the US - and another Canadian to face charges there, according to The National Post.
Shand's lawyers argued he was simply a taxi driver who frequently picked up people, unaware that he was doing anything illegal, according to The Post.
His calls for a mistrial were denied, according to The Star Tribune.
Huguley alerted his supervisor that he believed more people were missing in the field between Manitoba and Minnesota . A few hours later, the family-of-four's body were found meters from the Canadian border by Canadian police, the little boy cradled in his father's arms
The group of migrants had allegedly called Fenil Patel - who ran the smuggling ring and is not related to the family - who said he'd have someone come pick them up. No one arrived
After obtaining student visas for the migrants, Fenil Patel would send the migrants from Toronto to British Columbia, where they would be smuggled into Washington. Migrants were given prepaid phones with tracking systems on them to allow them to know where they were while crossing
Harshkumar's attorneys alleged that he has been wrongfully identified as a part of the smuggling ring and his representative expressed disappointment in the verdict.
Singh pleaded guilty in February 2023 in Seattle to transporting and harboring migrants for profit. He smuggled more than 500 people into the US and received more than a half-a-million dollars for his work, according to The Star Tribune.
Fenil's operation involved allegedly charging Indian nationals $100,000 to be smuggled into the US, according to The Star Tribune.
After obtaining student visas for the migrants, he would send them from Toronto to British Columbia, where they would be smuggled into Washington.
Migrants were reportedly given prepaid phones with tracking systems so they would know where they were while crossing.
Mudslides and floods prevented the family-of-four's group from crossing through Washington and they were instead taken through Manitoba.
'He said he [had] the connections in Minnesota,' Singh testified.
On the fateful January day, Singh said he woke up to many missed calls from Fenil, who told him: 'Our work got screwed up...All the people got caught.'
They were supposed to be taken to Chicago after crossing the border.
Mudslides and floods didn't allow the family-of-four's group to cross through Washington and were instead taken through Manitoba. They were supposed to be taken to Chicago after crossing the border (pictured: Minnesota courthouse)
Yash Patel, 23, survived the ordeal after getting separated from the family-of-four.
He told the court he walked alone for five or six hours before finding the van and Stand waiting for him, according to The Independent.
'It was snowing and it was very windy. I was very scared,' he told the court. 'I wanted to have help from someone, but there was no one.'
US Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians along the Canadian border in the 2024 fiscal year, which ended on September 30.
An estimated 725,000 Indians were living in the US illegally by 2022, according to Pew Research Center.
