Shortly after 3 pm on July 13th, Mr. John Henry Carr, a mechanic from the town of Chatsworth NJ, his wife Ms. Marie Carr, and his mother, Ms. May Carr had stopped along the tracks of the Central Railroad of New Jersey to pick berries. As the Carrs worked their way along the railroad line, they came upon several large splinters of wood. Finding additional fresh splinters, Mr. Carr decided to leave the vicinity of the tracks to further explore the thick underbrush. Soon thereafter, Mr. Carr came upon a wing of an airplane and after proceeding a short distance, he found the body of an aviator. He then spotted the rest of the wreckage about 120 feet away, consisting of the fuselage and the Wright Whirlwind engine. The fuselage, the engine, and the other wing had crashed down a clearing in the thick pines.

Mr. Carr ran back, and with his family drove into town where he telephoned the County Detective, Mr. Arthur Carabine of Mount Holly NJ. Mr. Carabine and the Deputy Coroner, Mr. John Throckmorton immediately drove the twenty-five miles to Chatsworth where they picked up Mr. Carr. Upon arriving on the scene, Mr. Carabine searched the body for identification. In a pocket of the leather aviator's jacket, he found a telegram from the Weather Bureau in Washington addressed to Captain Carranza and a few Mexican coins. The telegram had been sent out as a night letter filed in Washington on Tuesday at 10:17pm and reached Mitchel Field, Long Island at 7:44am. The telegram reported the weather forecast between New York and Mexico City and read as follows:

"Mitchel Field, L.I. N.Y.:

Partly cloudy to cloudy sky New York to New Orleans, with local thunderstorms Wednesday. Variable winds north, south and southwest up to 1,000 feet and light variable winds over New York at 5,000 feet. New Orleans to Mexico City, partly cloudy sky with some risk of showers or fog Mexican coast; gentle to moderate southwest or south winds up to 1,000 feet possibly 5,000 feet. Mitchel"

Detective Carabine found additional items on Captain Carranza's body. A $100 bill, a bag with $70 in American coins, a letter written in Spanish on stationary of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, a flight itinerary listing the cities over which Captain Carranza planned to fly: Philadelphia, Washington DC, Greenville, Spartanburg, New Orleans, Galveston, Tampico and Mexico City. In addition, Detective Carabine found several maps and some bags used by aviators to drop messages in flight. Captain Carranza's right hand was gripping a flashlight.

Upon completing his preliminary investigation of the crash site, Detective Carabine transported Captain Carranza's body to the morgue of K. Perenchieff and notified the Mexican Embassy via telegram.

Shortly thereafter, a group of Army officers led by Lieutenant Mee of the Seventy Seventh Division at Camp Dix, went to Mount Holly under orders of Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius V. Wickersham. With members of the American Legion post of Mount Holly, the Army officers placed an American flag upon the coffin of Captain Carranza and took post pending arrival of soldiers reported on the way from Washington.

At the Carranza home in Mexico City, a Mexican newspaperman was spending the evening with Emilio's mother and wife so he may be the first to interveiw them when news came of the success of the flight from New York. During their conversation a man dashed in from the street shouting: "Emilio is dead."