UPDATE: One dead, couple in custody in human smuggling case

One of the people found dehydrated and overheated after being stuffed in the back of a U-Haul truck discovered Sunday near Picacho Peak has died.

The driver and passenger have been identified and are in custody, according to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

According to PSCO, a group of people told deputies they each paid $5,000 for a ride inside a U-Haul truck from the border to Phoenix. The pair allegedly drove with the backdoor of the box truck closed from Douglas to Picacho Peak.

The driver has been identified as Nathan Lamb and the passenger his girlfriend Elizabeth Kay. Both are 25 and from Phoenix. They were booked into the Pinal County Adult Detention Center for numerous counts of human smuggling, aggravated assault and endangerment.

According to a sheriff’s press release, an autopsy will be conducted on the person who died early Tuesday and PCSO is preparing paperwork to submit to the county attorney’s office requesting a felony murder charge against both Lamb and Kay as a result of the death of the victim.

Two other patients are in stable condition in the hospital.

Lamb and Kay admitted to detectives, according to the sheriff’s office, that they transported the illegal immigrants from Douglas and were headed to Phoenix. While driving they heard “pounding and banging’ from inside of the cargo area. They told detective they didn’t stop right away because they were afraid they would be seen.

When they did stop, they said they saw how bad of shape some of the individuals were in and thought they were going to die. Lamb and Kay said they were scared so they ran away from the Bowlins Travel Center off I-10 near Picacho Peak where they had stopped.

On Sunday, a person spotted the U-Haul truck at the travel center about five miles southeast of Eloy and called 911 after observing several people in the back of the truck who appeared to need medical attention, according to a sheriff’s office press release.