Phoenix ? Almost every day, the lady with the chestnut hair and slight smile stopped by the tire shop to ask for a drink. Jose Perez would take a break from his work to offer a cup of water or whatever he had on hand.

She was 50ish, he guessed, and painfully skinny. But friendly, too. She once mentioned having kids, though Perez had no idea how many or where. She lived with a man under a plywood shelter on the other side of a chain-link fence behind the store.

Perez last saw her a week ago today, when the mercury hit 116 degrees. She lay on a mound of dirt outside the shelter as paramedics worked to revive her. The skinny lady with the smile died right before his eyes. “Scary,” the 20-year-old said.

Perez never even knew her name.

In the span of a week, in the throes of a record heat wave, this transient and 13 others perished on the streets of metropolitan Phoenix. They lived in obscurity, and many of them died the same way – anonymous, ignored, alone. Their bodies were found crumpled on sidewalks near strip malls or in the shadow of downtown skyscrapers. Some were discovered only after strangers stumbled upon them and dialed 911.

Physician's Assistant Keith Williams, who works for Maricopa County Healthcare for the Homeless, treats Fernando Martinez, who is homeless, for heat stress Thursday in Phoenix. A record heat wave has led to the deaths of 18 people, 14 of them homeless, leaving officials scrambling to provide water and shelter to the city's transient population.

Now, as Salvation Army volunteers pass out water and social workers coax vagabonds into shelters, the city is grappling with another challenge: How to put a name to the nameless, find their families and bury the dead.

Phoenix police so far have identified two of the dead: 47-year-old Ruben Lopez, discovered in a grassy patch near the vehicle where he lived, and 52-year-old Richard Pacheco, who died shortly after fire officials responded to a report of a man vomiting along a road. Both were found last Sunday; authorities had no other information about them.

All the bodies are being examined by the county medical examiner’s office, which will perform autopsies to determine cause of death and obtain fingerprints.

It is only the first step in a lengthy process.

“If things go as planned, bingo – there that person is,” said Phoenix Detective Tony Morales. “That’s not always the case. The big problem is finding any next of kin. They’re homeless, they come from who knows where. Most of them don’t carry a phone book in their pockets saying if something happens to them call ‘Dad’ at this number. It takes a lot of legwork.”

People try to take shelter in the minimal shaded area outside St. Vincent De Paul public dining room Friday in Phoenix.

“Sometimes,” he added, “we strike out.”

When that happens, funeral homes take possession of the dead and place notices in the obituary section of the local newspaper in hope that someone might recognize a name and call. It’s easy enough to spot the abbreviated bulletins, tucked in between heartfelt remembrances and photographs of loved ones.

“Christopher Daniel Blanco, 43. … Any family please contact Harper Funeral Home.”

“Alvin Duncan, 54. … No services scheduled at this time.”

Blanco and Duncan were homeless men who both passed away in June; the causes of their death are still undetermined. After efforts to locate any relatives were fruitless, the cases were referred this month to Maricopa County’s Indigent Burial Program.