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(CNN) — One of three female undocumented immigrants who were allegedly kidnapped and assaulted was rescued at the south Texas residence of a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was found dead inside, authorities said Thursday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it and other federal and local agencies began a search Wednesday after finding an injured woman who told agents that she and two other women had been assaulted by a man.
Investigators found the second woman and continued searching for the third alleged victim.
Early Thursday, Mission, Texas, police and members of the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, along with federal agents, went to the home of the agent and found him dead, the CBP and FBI said in statements. They entered the home after receiving “further information.”
Officers freed the third woman believed to have been kidnapped.
Mission is in extreme southern Texas, near the Mexican border.
The agencies didn’t identify the agent or cite a possible manner of death.
It was not clear where the alleged abductions took place. The FBI said it is investigating the incident as a kidnapping and assault.
The three women were being provided medical care, the CBP said.
“CBP takes this incident extremely seriously and we are fully cooperating with the investigation,” the agency said. “CBP holds its employees to the highest ethical standards. We stand ready to take any additional action necessary, pending the investigation.”
The FBI’s office in McAllen, Texas, said of the border agent, “the circumstances of his alleged involvement and subsequent death are under investigation.”
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