A stepmother accused of killing her boyfriend’s two young children was motivated by jealousy of their biological mother, according to a lawyer in the case.
Corena Rose Minjarez, 36, and her boyfriend Jesus Dominguez, 35, of Pueblo, Colorado, appeared in court Friday charged with murdering the children.
They were arrested in February after other family members raised concerns about Dominguez children Jesus Jr., five, and Yesenia, three, and police uncovered their bodies. The reports were made approximately six years after the last confirmed sighting of the children.
Yesenia was found encased in concrete in Kings Storage Unit where the family lived in Pueblo, while her brother’s remains were found in a suitcase in the trunk of a car at a nearby scrap yard.
Attorney Becky Briggs, who represents Dominguez, said Minjarez was jealous of the children’s biological mother because she believed she was cheating on her ex. Pueblo chieftain.
The pair were arrested in February this year after police found the bodies of Dominguez’s children Jesus Jr. in January this year. (right), five, and Yesenia (left), three, had discovered.
Judge Allison Ernst ruled during a preliminary hearing on Friday that the suspects would stand trial.
Minjarez and Dominguez are each charged with first-degree murder of a victim under the age of twelve by a person in a position of trust and abuse of a corpse.
Minjarez’s relatives told investigators they were concerned about the harsh discipline she applied to the young children, including locking the girl in a room until she finished eating a carrot.
The defendant’s teenage son even confronted her about “excessive physical punishment” she allegedly used against Jesus Jr. had used, such as beating him and locking both children in their bedrooms for a long time.
He told investigators he believed his mother took out her anger about her strained relationship with Dominguez on his children.
Other family members also claimed she told investigators she wished she never had children because “life would be so much easier.”
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
The first remains were found on January 20 when King’s Storage Unit was being cleared out
Minjarez and Dominguez lived with the children on Sundance Drive in Pueblo until March 2018, when they were evicted, detectives said.
At that point they started living in their car until they moved to Bonnymede Road sometime in 2019. By the time this move occurred, the children were no longer with them, investigators said. Their suspected time of murder is unclear.
It was Minjarez’s mother who alerted police to the missing children, telling police she had not seen them since June 2018.
She said there was a suspicious garbage can full of concrete in the storage room where the couple lived. Police cut into the concrete and found Yesenia’s decomposed remains wrapped in layers of garbage bags.
Sergeant Steven Jesik said police believe the defendants mixed the concrete in the unit after finding two ripped open 80-pound bags of concrete mix, a shovel and a water spraying tool.
The owners of the storage facility told police the unit was rented in March 2018, and in July they noticed a strange odor coming from the complex. They called Minjarez, who attributed the smell to the hamburger meat she said she had left inside.
Despite this missing poster on Facebook, police admitted they did not know the children were missing until the remains were found
The remains of Jesus Jr. were found in Minjarez’s vehicle at a scrap yard in Pueblo on February 6 of this year, in a suitcase in the trunk.
The children’s remains were so poorly decomposed that their cause of death could not be determined.