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Colorado father, his girlfriend held after missing kids’ remains found inside storage unit and suitcase
Colorado Police found the remains of 3-year-old Yesenia Dominguez encased in concrete in a storage unit and five-year-old Jesus Jr. packed inside a suitcase.
A Colorado father and his girlfriend were arrested after police discovered the bodies of two young children who were last seen in summer 2018.
Corena Rose Minjarez, 36, was held on Friday and shifted to a county jail, while her 35-year-old partner, Jesus Dominguez, was detained on Saturday, police said in a statement.
Police found the remains of his three-year-old daughter Yesenia Dominguez encased in concrete in a storage unit and five-year-old son Jesus Jr. packed inside a suitcase in the trunk of a car abandoned at a scrapyard.
The car of Minjarez, who is not the biological mother of the kids, was used to store the young boy's remains, and she is therefore suspected of aiding in the murder and disposal of the children.
Homicide investigation
The case's first breakthrough came on January 20, when a routine cleaning of Kings Storage Unit, triggered by overdue rent, revealed a metal container filled with solidified concrete concealing human remains. The remains of Yesenia were identified through DNA testing.
On January 31, police summoned both Minjarez and Dominguez, who were wanted on an outstanding warrant, in for interrogation.
The duo told police that the children could be in Phoenix, Arizona, but the lead was unsuccessful, according to investigators.
On February 6, investigators found a vehicle owned by Minjarez at a local scrap yard. Upon additional inspection, they discovered the boy's remains inside a bag stashed in the car's trunk.
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Charges against the Colorado couple
Minjarez and Dominguez are each accused with two charges of murder and mistreatment of a corpse, with Dominguez also facing a charge of theft of government funds.
According to court documents, they are both being jailed on a $2 million bond and are scheduled to return to court on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Sgt. Franklyn Ortega of the Pueblo Police Department stated that there had been "no sign, no indication' about these missing kids since July 2018, NY POST reported.
He revealed that cops had been directed to do welfare checks on the kids in the past, but they failed to locate them as nobody ever made a missing person report.
