Fernando Candelas Serna
Not found on the Texas Attorney General’s published list of deaths in custody.
Fernando Candelas Serna, 21, died at the El Paso County Detention Facility's downtown jail, where he was held in immigration custody, in the early morning of June 30, 2021. According to a custodial death report, he was found with vomit on his mouth while lying on a top bunk in his cell, and he was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour after guards were alerted. The El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death an accident caused by fentanyl toxicity, and an autopsy report later obtained by KTSM also found a fentanyl overdose. How he obtained the drug is not stated, and the sheriff's office did not say whether the death is being investigated.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of an overdose. The El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death an accident from fentanyl toxicity, and an autopsy report obtained by KTSM found a fentanyl overdose.
Reported by: El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office (medical examiner or coroner); KTSM (reporters).