A Colorado man and woman have been 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 Friday and booked into a provincial jail, while her 35-year-old partner Jesus Dominguez was taken into custody Saturday.
Dominguez’s two children – now identified as five-year-old Jesus Jr. and three-year-old Yesenia Dominguez – were last seen in the summer of 2018.
The little girl’s corpse was found encased in concrete in a storage room, and her brother’s remains were found in a suitcase, in the trunk of a car, in a scrap yard.
Police confirmed that Dominguez is the father of the two children found in the horrific conditions, while Minjarez is his girlfriend, but not their mother.
Jesus Jr., last seen when he was five, was found dead in a suitcase in a scrap yard
Yesenia Dominguez, last seen when she was three, was found encased in concrete in a storage room
A Colorado man and woman – Jesus Dominguez, 35 (pictured right) Corena Rose Minjarez, 36 (pictured left) – were arrested after police discovered a grizzly found two young children dead after being away from home for nearly six years. more were seen
After July 2018, there was “no sign, no indication of these kids,” said Sgt. Franklyn Ortega of the Pueblo Police Department said this a few weeks ago.
The first remains were found on January 20 when King’s Storage Unit was being cleaned out after its rent had gone unpaid.
The storage room contained a metal container filled with hardened concrete, and upon investigation the girl’s remains were discovered, Ortega said.
Two days later, the remains were confirmed to be that of the young girl and the identification process began.
On Jan. 31, police in Pueblo interviewed the elder Dominguez, who was arrested on an outstanding warrant, and Minjarez.
According to those interviews, police said the only lead they got from them was that they could be in Phoenix, Arizona, but that suggestion went nowhere.
On Feb. 6, the investigation led police to a vehicle belonging to Minjarez at a scrap yard, where they found the remains of a boy 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 those tests.
Both Dominguez and Minjarez have each been charged with two counts of murder and abuse of a corpse.
The first remains were found on January 20 when Kings Storage Unit was cleared out after its rent had gone unpaid
The storage room contained a metal container filled with hardened concrete, and an investigation discovered the girl’s remains, Ortega said.
On Feb. 6, the investigation led police to a vehicle owned by Minjarez at a scrap yard, where they found the remains of a boy in a suitcase in the trunk of the car, police said.
Despite this missing poster on Facebook, police admitted they did not know the children were missing until the remains were found
Dominguez also faces an additional charge of theft of government benefits.
Minjarez was arrested shortly after the arrest warrant was issued. Police said they found Dominguez in the 1100 block of Bonforte Blvd on Saturday with help from the community.
Court records show both are being held on $2 million bail, with hearings scheduled for Wednesday.
Available court documents did not identify attorneys for Minjarez and Dominguez who could comment on their behalf.
Pueblo is a city of about 110,000 residents located about 45 miles south of Colorado Springs.