State Rep.'s worker suspected in fatal beating

Associated Press - September 1, 2008 7:15 PM ET

McALLEN, Texas (AP) - Authorities say a ranch worker hired by a Texas lawmaker is a suspected illegal immigrant now wanted in the fatal beating of a young Hispanic man.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino says 24-year-old Froylen Casares is suspected of using a bat to beat another man to death yesterday. Casares remained at large Monday afternoon.

Trevino told The Monitor in McAllen that it was a "very bloody, very gruesome crime scene."

Authorities declined to name the dead man.

Casares was employed at a ranch owned by state Representative Kino Flores, who said he hired the man without checking his immigration status. Flores says the man looked "preppy" and that he did not suspect him of being here illegally.

The sheriff says Casares' immigration status and whether Flores broke the law by hiring him would have to be investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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