Posted on 06/25/2005 4:18:48 AM PDT by kcvl
June 25, 2005 -- CAMDEN, N.J. — The father of a missing 6-year-old boy dropped to his knees and let out a blood-curdling scream after opening the trunk of a parked car last night to discover the body of his son and two young friends who had been missing since Wednesday.
The bodies of Jesstin "Manny" Pagan, 5; Daniel "Danny" Agosto, 6; and Anibal Cruz, 11 — who were last seen playing in a yard in this hard-luck suburb of Philadelphia — were found by Danny's father, David Agosto, shortly before 7 p.m. in the maroon Toyota Camry.
"Anibal's father told me that there was a plastic bag over his son's head," Anibal's babysitter, Nancy Santana, told The Post last night.
The death car belongs to Anibal's grandmother and had been parked in the driveway of the family's house throughout the three-day search for the boys in neighboring woodlands and the nearby Delaware River.
Hearing Agosto's anguished screams, family and friends frantically ran from a nearby porch where they had held a vigil hoping for a miracle. The grim discovery echoed across the community.
"This is a moment that the families and the city hoped and prayed we wouldn't have to face," said Camden County Prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi.
Last night, law enforcement officials declined to elaborate on their investigation, but said they were searching for Angel Martinez, 28, of Camden, as a "person of interest" in the case.
snip
Sarubbi and Figueroa said the car had been searched on Thursday with a canine unit.
snip
"We looked in the car on Thursday," an anguished neighbor, who did not want to be identified, told The Post.
"I can't believe we didn't look in the trunk."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
This is correct. Just because a bloodhound is used doesn't mean that it's some magic entity. They have to be properly trained, and even then they have off days.
How about blaming the people rather than the drugs for a refreshing change. The drugs don't hop down anybody's throat or into anybody's veins of their own accord. Somebody has to choose to use them.
"And dogs are not infallible. They make mistakes every day."
This is true. I once worked with a dog trainer. I learned that the dogs can't sniff for long periods at a time. They get tired and their sniffer starts wearing down.
Based on the pictures of the area it occurred in, it would seem to be pretty hard to put three bodies in a truck unnoticed
This wasn't out in the middle of nowhere.
"How about blaming the people rather than the drugs for a refreshing change"
How bout you chill out and not jump to the wrong conclusions. I was blaming the people, people who "choose" to use drugs.
the issue is the size and strength, including of the lungs, of an 11 year old, not the condition of the mind.
"Since he was the biological father, I never thought it was him myself. Very rare."
Not in todays world. Remember the case that just occurred a month ago in Illinois. The biological father killed his own daughter and her friend in the park because she took money from her mothers purse. IMO these people are worst case scenario degenerates.
But possibly a place where the neighbors survive by "not noticing." Why let on to the authorities only to get viciously retaliated upon.
They should be able to tell if the kids were placed in the trunk AFTER their death easy enough. I imagine their fingerprints would be ALL OVER the inside of that trunk in their struggle to get out.
As for the Bloodhounds not picking up a scent...even I could smell 3 dead bodies a mile away.
sw
Oh, in case anyone's interested, I just chatted with my chief. The car was 30 feet from the house. It's horrible that the father had to be the one to find them. The police chief has a lot of explaining to do.
the point is that none of this makes any sense.
how would it be possible that three children could be murdered in a such a short time (that the mom claims) with no one noticing or hearing anything? or if the bodies were in the trunk the entire time during the search, wouldn't that be the FIRST place police would look, like a magnet drawn to an obvious place of confinement for children?
so if there are all these police around the house, how could no one notice someone placing bodies in a vehicle on the property, if it were done after the police arrived?
some lying going around here. smells like a drug related payback.
Maybe the boys were "bad" and someone put them in the hot trunk of the car to punish them. Left them in there for 4 hrs (OR MORE) and when they opened it, the poor kids were dead.
sw
Because he is the most feeble minded one, and is on meds.
The key is the key.
I'm almost certain there is a lever on the left side of the drivers seat which opens the trunk. It is mechanical, not electric. The boys would know how to use it. The bigger question is, if they got into the trunk without a fourth person, how did they close the trunk on themselves? I'm sure it can be done, but it wouldn't be easy.
Do you see where that car is? No way in Hell someone could do all that at that time of the day without being seen. The mother was only in the house for a few minutes.
Oh yeah, Florida's got such an excellent track record with missing children.
and I believe the parents noticed the children missing around 5:30 pm. The sun is not so intense then and it was not a really hot day - not much more than 80 deg. I do wonder that they would so quickly be overcome by the heat at that time.
Mrs VS
Not being familiar with that vehicle, I don't know if there is anything to grab a hold of to pull it closed. I'm leaning towards the accident theory, simply because kids can do some really dumb things (I use my own childhood to remind me of this), and nothing I have seen so far rules an accident out, BUT, the possibilty of outright murder, or, accidental homicide (like a 4th child closing the trunk as a "game"), have not been ruled out...
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