Brayan Rayo-Garzón
Brayan Rayo-Garzón was 27, a Colombian military veteran who had lived with his family in St. Louis, where he worked as a housepainter and food delivery driver and made friends easily. His mother, Adriana Garzón, said he called her each night to share a Catholic blessing. He died in April 2025 at the Phelps County Jail in Rolla, Missouri, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement held him; ICE gives the date as April 8, an ICE report cited by KCUR gives April 7, and ICE said he was found unresponsive. Records cited by the Chicago Tribune show his requests for mental health treatment were delayed, a mental health appointment was canceled twice, and he was held in isolation while sick with COVID-19, and his family says he had pleaded to speak with his mother before he died. An autopsy and a Missouri Highway Patrol investigation concluded he killed himself, but his mother disputes this, saying he did not have the drive to kill himself, and the coroner has declined to release the autopsy report.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (disputed; neglect alleged). The Missouri State Highway Patrol and an autopsy concluded he killed himself, but his mother disputes this, and AP records show his mental health appointment was canceled twice and his requests for treatment were delayed.
Reported by: Missouri State Highway Patrol (outside investigators); autopsy by the county coroner; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement report (the agency that held him); his mother; Associated Press investigation (reporters); KCUR (reporters).
Sources (10)
- Detainee Death Report: Rayo-Garzon, Brayan
- Colombian national dies after being found unresponsive in ICE custody at Phelps County Jail
- Seven dead in ICE custody in Trump’s first 100 days as detainee population swells
- Lives cut short in ICE custody: Seven migrants die in Trump’s first 100 days
- Another Migrant Dies Under ICE Custody After Experiencing 'Seizures, Vomiting, And Unresponsiveness'
- Trump Administration Deadlier for ICE Detainees Than COVID-19 Pandemic
- Day Of The Dead: Honoring Immigrants Who Died In ICE Custody
- Record deaths in US immigration custody expose systemic failures
- ICE detainees are dying by suicide at an ‘alarming’ rate, an AP investigation finds
- ICE Is a Death Machine