The entrance to Cibolo Creek Ranch in West Texas, where Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead on February 13, 2016. (Josh Stephen / WFAA) 
 
 MARFA, Texas — United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s heart stopped beating during his sleep, Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara told WFAA on Sunday. 
 
 Guevara officially pronounced him dead at 1:52 p.m. on Saturday. She will be the local official who signs his death certificate. 
 
 Hours earlier, the county judge told WFAA that myocardial infarction — or a heart attack — would likely be the cause of death listed. Guevara later said she would confer with the Justice’s personal physician on what specifically to show as the cause of death. 
 
 Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara was in Alpine when she learned of the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the Cibolo Creek Ranch in West Texas. Scalia's remains were later moved to El Paso. (WFAA) 
 
 Scalia’s remains were discreetly driven by van overnight to an El Paso funeral home with an escort from a procession of Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers and U.S. Marshals Service vehicles. 
 
 After arriving at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, the Sunset Funeral Home embalmed Scalia’s remains, according to Chris Lujuan, a funeral home manager. Embalming is required by Texas law before a body can be transported out of state. 
 
 Sunset Funeral Home said it is collecting vital information for Scalia’s death certificate. 
 
 Lujuan said Scalia’s remains would likely begin the journey back to northern Virginia sometime on Monday, though it’s uncertain exactly how the body would be transported. 
 
 Judge Guevara said she was shopping in the neighboring town of Alpine on Saturday afternoon when Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez called her on her mobile phone after lunch. 
 
 “He says, 'Judge, I’m at Cibolo Creek Ranch, and a Supreme Court Justice has just passed away, and I need someone here immediately. Both justices of the peace are out of town at this time,'” Guevara recounted to WFAA. 
 
 #JusticeScalia was found in his room - the "Presidente" suite - at @CiboloRanch about 11a Saturday. Curtains pulled. pic.twitter.com/88XM3DgRCZ — Jason Whitely (@JasonWhitely) February 14, 2016 
 
 “I said, 'Sheriff, what did you say? Which Supreme Court Justice died at Cibolo Creek Ranch?’ And the phone went dead, because our connection was very bad,” she explained. 
 
 Cell phone service is spotty in Far West Texas. There’s no service at the ranch. 
 
 “He called me back and he gave me a few more sentences until it broke up again. And that’s how the conversation went for 20 minutes,” the county judge recalled. 
 
 Guevara said she immediately recognized Scalia’s name as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and pronounced him dead over the phone at 1:52 p.m. on Saturday. 
 
 A portion of Cibolo Creek Ranch where Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent time the night before he was found dead in his room on February 13, 2016. (Matthew Busch/Getty Images) (Photo: 2016 Getty Images) 
 
 She planned to drive to the ranch — about 30 minutes south of Marfa — but returned when a U.S. Marshal told her by phone: “It’s not necessary for you to come, judge. If you’re asking for an autopsy, that’s what we need to clarify.” 
 
 Judge Guevara said she wanted to clarify details of Scalia’s death before deciding whether to order an autopsy. 
 
 “As part of my investigation one of the things I did ask the sheriff and the U.S. Marshal: 'Were there any signs of foul play? And they said, ‘Absolutely not.’ At that time, I still wanted to be careful and asked them if [Scalia’s] physician would call me.” 
 
 The justice’s personal doctor called Guevara at 8 p.m. Saturday night 
 
 “When [the physician] explained [Scalia] had just visited on Wednesday and Thursday, and [the doctor] had done an MRI, then I felt comfortable what I knew was going on with him physically,” she said. 
 
 
 
 
 
 U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia addresses the Legal Services Corporation's 40th anniversary conference luncheon Septemeber 15, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Photo: Chip Somodevilla, 2014 Getty Images) 
 
 Guevara said Scalia went to his doctor for a shoulder injury last week, but the justice also suffered from several chronic ailments. 
 
 Judge Guevara said she will fill out the official death certificate to be permanently filed in Presidio County after Sunset Funeral Home collects Scalia’s vital information. 
 
 “After I did my job, yes... I kept playing it over and over in my mind and thought, ‘Oh my God. History is being made in Presidio County,” Guevara told WFAA. “It’s something I’ll never forget.” 
 
 Scalia, 79, was visiting the ranch with a friend from Washington, D.C. It was a relaxation trip to this remote private resort. 
 
 “I just feel that we have lost a great defender of the Constitution, and it’s a big loss for the United States of America,” Guevara added. 
 
 Copyright 2016 WFAA ||||| Updated at 2:15 p.m. with comments from Scalia’s physician and the former head of criminal investigations for Washington D.C: 
 
 Confusion and conspiracy theories surround the cause of death for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and with no autopsy on the record, that may not change. 
 
 “My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas,” William O. Ritchie, former head of criminal investigations for D.C. police, wrote in a post on Facebook questioning why the death wasn’t investigated. 
 
 WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported Sunday that Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara declared the cause of death a “myocardial infarction,” or heart attack. But Guevara later denied that, saying that she meant only that his heart stopped. 
 
 “It wasn’t a heart attack,” she told The Washington Post. “He died of natural causes.” 
 
 While heart attacks are considered natural causes, as opposed to a suicide, homicide or accidental death, the vagueness of “natural causes” leaves room for speculation. 
 
 Guevara’s office has not returned calls for clarification to The Dallas Morning News. 
 
 It took close to three hours for the pronouncement to be made. According to The Washington Post, Guevara made the pronouncement without seeing the body, which is permissible under Texas law, and without ordering an autopsy. 
 
 “He was having health issues,” Guevara told The Post. She is awaiting a statement from Scalia’s doctor, which she will add to the justice’s death certificate when it is issued this week. 
 
 Scalia’s physician is Brian Monahan, a U.S. Navy rear admiral and the attending physician for the U.S. Congress and Supreme Court. The Post reports he declined to comment on Scalia’s health when reached by telephone Monday at his home in Maryland. 
 
 “Patient confidentiality forbids me to make any comment on the subject,” he told The Post. 
 
 WFAA-TV reports that Guevara said she spoke with Monahan who told her that the justice was seen Wednesday and Thursday last week for a shoulder injury and that an MRI had been ordered. 
 
 “As a former homicide commander, I am stunned that no autopsy was ordered for Justice Scalia,” Ritchie wrote on Sunday. 
 
 “You have a Supreme Court Justice who died, not in attendance of a physician,” he wrote. 
 
 “You have a non-homicide trained US Marshal tell the justice of peace that no foul play was observed. You have a justice of the peace pronounce death while not being on the scene and without any medical training opining that the justice died of a heart attack. What medical proof exists of a myocardial Infarction? Why not a cerebral hemorrhage?” 
 
 Ritchie also questioned the marshals’ actions: 
 
 “How can the Marshal say, without a thorough post mortem, that he was not injected with an illegal substance that would simulate a heart attack…” 
 
 “Did the US Marshal check for petechial hemorrhage in his eyes or under his lips that would have suggested suffocation? Did the US Marshal smell his breath for any unusual odor that might suggest poisoning?” 
 
 Scalia died at Cibolo Creek Ranch near Marfa, where he was a guest of John Poindexter, a Texas millionaire who owns the West Texas ranch. He was part of a group of about 35 weekend guests. He arrived Friday around noon. 
 
 Scalia had declined a security detail for the trip to West Texas, according to a statement by the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security for Supreme Court justices. 
 
 “Deputy U.S. Marshals from the Western District of Texas responded immediately upon notification of Justice Scalia’s passing,” the statement said. 
 
 Poindexter told The Los Angeles Times that when he discovered Scalia’s body Saturday morning, it was obvious he had “passed away without any difficulty” in the night and seemed “peaceful.” 
 
 Scalia’s body was taken three hours west to Sunset Funeral Home in El Paso by a caravan of 20 law enforcement officers. The Scalia family chose not to have an autopsy, and the body was prepared to be returned to Virginia, according to Chris Lujan, a funeral director manager. 
 
 Lujan told The Los Angeles Times he had not seen a death certificate to corroborate the WFAA report that Scalia’s death was due to a heart attack. 
 
 “He passed away in his sleep of natural causes,” Lujan said. He was told a county official went to the ranch to pronounce Scalia dead before the body was removed. This is contrary to reports by The New York Times that Guevera pronounced by telephone that Scalia was dead and “ruled it natural causes based on credible information.” 
 
 Another official told The Post that she would have made a different decision on the autopsy. 
 
 “If it had been me,” said Juanita Bishop, a justice of the peace in Presidio, “I would want to know.” 
 
 A Catholic priest, Father Mike Alcuino of the Santa Teresa de Jusús in Presidio, arrived Saturday afternoon to administer last rites to Scalia, who was a devout Catholic. 
 
 “It was just proper to call in a Catholic priest for the last rites,” Alcuino told The New York Times on Sunday. 
 
 Authorities were still investigating Sunday, but they released the scene and reporters were allowed to tour the ranch, but not the “El Presidente” suite where Scalia stayed. 
 
 Reporters were allowed to peer through the glass doors to the suite. The Los Angeles Times reported that the bed still appeared slept in. No personal items were visible on the carved wooden tables. 
 
 Reflecting on Scalia’s passing, Poindexter told The Los Angeles Times: 
 
 “It was an honor to have had him,” he said. “He was surrounded by 35-odd admirers. He was at a beautiful location, which he remarked upon several times as being very much to his taste. He was doing what he liked to do, which was being outdoors. He had no apparent pain or distress in his death. While an absolute tragedy, it could have happened at worse places and worse circumstances than it happened here.” ||||| In the cloistered chambers of the Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia’s days were highly regulated and predictable. He met with clerks, wrote opinions and appeared for arguments in the august courtroom on a schedule set months in advance. 
 
 Yet as details of Scalia’s sudden death trickled in Sunday, it appeared that the hours afterward were anything but orderly. The man known for his elegant legal opinions and profound intellect was found dead in his room at a hunting resort by the resort’s owner, who grew worried when Scalia didn’t appear at breakfast Saturday morning. 
 
 It then took hours for authorities in remote West Texas to find a justice of the peace, officials said Sunday. When they did, Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara pronounced Scalia dead of natural causes without seeing the body — which is permissible under Texas law — and without ordering an autopsy. 
 
 As official Washington tried to process what his demise means for politics and the law, some details of Scalia’s final hours remained opaque. As late as Sunday afternoon, for example, there were conflicting reports about whether an autopsy should have been performed. A manager at the El Paso funeral home where Scalia’s body was taken said that his family made it clear they did not want one. 
 
 One of two other officials who were called but couldn’t get to Scalia’s body in time said that she would have made a different decision on the autopsy. 
 
 Washington Post reporter Robert Barnes explains where the Supreme Court stands after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia and how the vacant seat will impact the presidential election. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post) 
 
 “If it had been me . . . I would want to know,” Juanita Bishop, a justice of the peace in Presidio, Tex., said in an interview Sunday of the chaotic hours after Scalia’s death at the Cibolo Creek Ranch, a luxury compound less than an hour from the Mexican border and about 40 miles south of Marfa. 
 
 Meanwhile, Guevara acknowledged that she pronounced Scalia dead by phone, without seeing his body. Instead, she spoke to law enforcement officials at the scene — who assured her “there were no signs of foul play” — and Scalia’s physician in Washington, who said that the 79-year-old justice suffered from a host of chronic conditions. 
 
 “He was having health issues,’’ Guevara said, adding that she is awaiting a statement from Scalia’s doctor that will be added to his death certificate when it is issued later this week. 
 
 Guevara also rebutted a report by a Dallas TV station that quoted her as saying that Scalia had died of “myocardial infarction.” In an interview with The Washington Post, she said she meant only that his heart had stopped. 
 
 “It wasn’t a heart attack,” Guevara said. “He died of natural causes.” 
 
 In a statement Sunday, the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security for Supreme Court justices, said that Scalia had declined a security detail while at the ranch, so marshals were not present when he died. “Deputy U.S. Marshals from the Western District of Texas responded immediately upon notification of Justice Scalia’s passing,” the statement said. 
 
 One thing was clear: Scalia died in his element, doing what he loved, at a luxury resort that has played host to movie stars and European royalty, and is famous for bird hunts and bigger game such as bison and mountain lions. 
 
 1 of 20 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × The life of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia View Photos Antonin Scalia, the influential and most provocative member of the Supreme Court, has died. He was 79. Caption Antonin Scalia, the influential and most provocative member of the Supreme Court, has died. He was 79. Oct. 8, 2010 Justice Antonin Scalia at the Supreme Court. Larry Downing/Reuters Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 “Other than being with his family or in church, there’s no place he’d rather be than on a hunt,” said Houston lawyer Mark Lanier, who took Scalia hunting for wild boar, deer and even alligators. Lanier said he first learned of Scalia’s love for hunting through former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor. “He’ll do anything if you take him hunting,” Lanier recalled O’Connor saying. 
 
 Scalia had recently returned from a trip to Asia, where his last public event was a book signing in Hong Kong. John Poindexter, the Houston businessman who owns the Cibolo Creek Ranch, said Sunday that Scalia and a friend arrived Friday by chartered aircraft, traveling through Houston. At the ranch, Scalia joined about 35 other people invited by Poindexter, who declined to name the other guests. 
 
 Later that day, Scalia went out with the group to hunt blue quail. But “he did not exert himself,” Poindexter said. “He got out of the hunting vehicle and walked around some.’’ 
 
 Law enforcement officials said Scalia attended a private party that night with the other guests and left to go to bed early. But Poindexter said that didn’t seem unusual: All of the guests were tired from traveling to the remote ranch, as well as the day’s other activities. Everyone was in bed by 10 p.m., he said. 
 
 Scalia’s behavior, Poindexter said, “was entirely natural and normal.’’ 
 
 The next morning, Scalia did not show up for breakfast. Poindexter at first thought he might be sleeping late, but eventually he grew concerned. Late Saturday morning, he and one other person knocked on the door to Scalia’s room, an expansive suite called the “El Presidente.” When there was no answer, they went inside. 
 
 “Everything was in perfect order. He was in his pajamas, peacefully, in bed,” Poindexter said. 
 
 Emergency personnel and officials from the U.S. Marshals Service were called to the scene, then two local judges who also serve as justices of the peace, Guevara said. Both were out of town, she said — not unusual in a remote region where municipalities are miles apart. 
 
 Guevara also was out of town, but she said she agreed to declare Scalia dead based on the information from law enforcement officials and Scalia’s doctor, citing Texas laws that permit a justice of the peace to declare someone dead without seeing the body. 
 
 On Saturday evening, Scalia’s body was loaded into a hearse and escorted to the Sunset Funeral Home in El Paso by a procession of about 20 law enforcement officers. It arrived there about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, according to funeral home manager Chris Lujan. The funeral home is about 31/ 2 hours from the ranch where Scalia died. 
 
 About 3:30 a.m. Sunday, Scalia’s family declined to have an autopsy performed, Lujan said, so the body was being prepared for Scalia’s funeral and was expected to be transported to Washington on Monday. Late Sunday, it was under guard by six law enforcement officials, including U.S. marshals and Texas state troopers, he said. 
 
 Funeral arrangements for Scalia — a devoted Catholic who was given the last rites by a Catholic priest — were unclear Sunday. 
 
 Horwitz and Markon reported from Washington. Lana Straub in Marfa, Tex., and Alice Crites and Robert Barnes in Washington contributed to this report. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Scalia’s death upends court dynamics. 
 
 These are the top cases to be heard by an 8-member court. 
 
 The three types of people Obama could nominate. 
 
 Scalia: A brilliant mind, and a frequent critic of civil rights.
– Conspiracy theorists, take a deep breath: A Texas judge has officially deemed Antonin Scalia's death a natural one, WFAA reports. Presidio County Judge Cinderela Guevara says the Supreme Court justice died of a heart attack. Guevara says she heard about Scalia's death from a sheriff, and was planning to travel to the luxury ranch where Scalia died, when a US Marshal called her. "It's not necessary for you to come, judge. If you’re asking for an autopsy, that’s what we need to clarify," the marshal told her, per Guevara. She goes on: "As part of my investigation, one of the things I did ask the sheriff and the US Marshal: 'Were there any signs of foul play?' And they said, ‘Absolutely not.’ At that time, I still wanted to be careful, and asked them if [Scalia’s] physician would call me." Scalia's doctor did call her Saturday night, saying Scalia had a shoulder injury and several chronic health issues. Guevara decided the death was natural and no autopsy would be needed, ABC News reports. Meanwhile, Scalia's body was transported overnight by van—with a procession of US Marshals Service vehicles and Texas Dept. of Public Safety troopers—to Sunset Funeral Home in El Paso. The funeral home manager says Scalia's remains were embalmed, a legal requirement before moving a body out of the state. The leading conspiracy theory was that President Obama himself had Scalia murdered, a notion the New Republic puts down to "some paranoid people on Twitter."