Associated Press journalist Juan Carlos Llorca dies at 40

Juan Carlos Llorca, a veteran Associated Press journalist who covered immigration and the drug war along the U.S.-Mexico border, and whose reporting on illegal international adoptions helped prompt national reforms in Guatemala, has died at age 40.

Llorca collapsed at his home Monday in El Paso, Texas, and was rushed to a hospital, but he was pronounced dead, according to his sister, Maria Jimena Llorca. The cause of his death is pending.

"Juan Carlos was that rare mix of aggressive reporter and gentle soul," said Maud Beelman, AP's editor for Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. "He never turned away from an assignment ... and his enthusiasm for the job was infectious."

Llorca spent years reporting on illegal international adoptions in Guatemala, becoming one of the first journalists to uncover a smuggling trade in which infants were placed for adoption with unsuspecting couples, mostly from the United States.

Authorities discovered evidence of fraud that included false paperwork, fake birth certificates, women coerced into giving up their children and even child theft. At least 25 cases resulted in criminal charges against doctors, lawyers, mothers and civil registrars.

Llorca's reporting helped prompt Guatemala to suspend international adoptions and make reforms in 2008. He'd joined the AP three years earlier in Guatemala.