A man and woman from Pueblo, Colorado, were arrested after police discovered the bodies of two young children who had not been seen alive in nearly six years.
Corena Rose Minjarez, 36, was arrested on Friday and booked into a county jail, while her partner, Jesús Domínguez, 35, was detained on Saturday.
Domínguez’s two children, now identified as Jesús Jr., five, and Yesenia Domínguez, three, were last seen in the summer of 2018.
The girl’s body was found encased in concrete inside a storage unit, and her brother’s remains were found in a suitcase, in the trunk of a car, in a junkyard.
Police confirmed that Dominguez is the father of the two children found in horrific circumstances, while Minjarez is his girlfriend but not their mother.
Jesús Jr., last seen when he was five years old, was found dead inside a suitcase in a junkyard
Yesenia Dominguez, last seen when she was three years old, was found encased in concrete inside a storage unit.
A Colorado man and woman, Jesús Dominguez, 35 (pictured right) and Corena Rose Minjarez, 36 (pictured left), were arrested after police discovered two young children dead after They had not been seen in almost six years.
After July 2018, there has been “no sign, no indication of these children,” said Sgt. Franklyn Ortega of the Pueblo Police Department said just a few weeks ago.
The first remains were found on January 20 when the Kings storage unit was being cleaned out, as rent had not been paid.
The storage unit included a metal container filled with hardened concrete, and an investigation uncovered the girl’s remains, Ortega said.
Two days later it was confirmed that it was the young woman’s remains and the identification process began.
On Jan. 31, Pueblo police interviewed Dominguez Sr., who was arrested on an outstanding warrant, and Minjarez.
According to those interviews, police said the only tip they had received from them was that they might be in Phoenix, Arizona, but the tip went nowhere.
On Feb. 6, the investigation led police to a vehicle owned by Minjarez at a junkyard, where they found the remains of a child in a suitcase in the trunk of the car, police said.
On February 15, DNA testing showed that the remains belonged to the two missing children. Police later admitted that they didn’t even know the children were missing until that evidence.
Both Dominguez and Minjarez have been charged with two counts each of murder and abuse of a corpse.
The first remains were found on January 20 when the Kings storage unit was being cleaned out, as rent had not been paid.
The storage unit included a metal container filled with hardened concrete, and an investigation uncovered the girl’s remains, Ortega said.
On Feb. 6, the investigation led police to a vehicle owned by Minjarez at a junkyard, where they found the remains of a child in a suitcase in the trunk of the car, police said.
Despite this missing poster posted on Facebook, police admitted that they did not know the children were missing until the remains were found.
Dominguez also has an additional charge of theft of government benefits.
Minjarez was arrested shortly after the arrest warrant was issued. Police said they found Dominguez on Saturday in the 1100 block of Bonforte Blvd with the help of the community.
Court records show both are being held on $2 million bail and hearings are scheduled for Wednesday.
Available court records did not identify attorneys for Minjarez and Dominguez who could comment on their behalf.
Pueblo is a city of about 110,000 people about 45 miles south of Colorado Springs.