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 ...
The other day, Fox news was running this story with a video clip: female officer walked around from the front of a car to the back of the car, casually looked underneath and walked away. It didn't show her opening or looking inside the car, no less the trunk.
The car was searched, exterior, by bloodhound dogs, if the boys had been there, they would have picked up the scent.
With helicopters buzzing overhead, hundreds of people - many with children in their arms - converged on the neighborhood. Yellow crime-scene tape kept them, and reporters, from getting too close to where the bodies were found.
Some onlookers wept. Others simply watched, stunned, heads shaking in disbelief.
On River Avenue, several women held onto a wrought-iron fence, sobbing uncontrollably as they peered into the backyard of Anibal Cruz, 11, who went missing Wednesday afternoon with his friends Daniel Agosto, 6, and Jesstin Pagan, 5.
"I feel guilty because I couldn't do anything else to make this not to turn out this way," said Magdalena Medina of Sicklerville.
Medina said as soon she heard on the news about the three missing boys, she jumped in her car and drove to Cramer Hill to join the search.
"I felt that my responsibility was to be here helping all the others go through those abandoned houses, Dumpsters, bushes and knock door by door," said Medina.
"It's shocking," said Liz Alvarado, a Cramer Hill resident who helped the effort by handing out fliers along River Avenue.
snip
Around the corner, on Beideman Avenue, Derrick Lofton said he watched as David Agosto opened the trunk of a Toyota Camry, only to see the bodies of his son and his son's playmates.
"My spine sort of collapsed when I saw it," said Lofton, 38.
A Pennsauken native whose family lives in Camden, Lofton said he saw authorities check the car on Thursday and Friday morning.
"They just didn't check the trunk," he said.
Lofton's 4-year-old daughter Deiana was with him at the time.
"I have to stay closer to my daughter," he said. "I wish I didn't see it."
They are searching for someone named Angel Martiniz in the case.
And this is paid for professionalism.
Cops and neighbors have been swarming that neighborhood for 3 days.
How could somebody sneak three boys into the trunk of a car without getting noticed?
Here is what my local news is reporting .. there is a video of the father's reaction right after he found the boys
Sad
http://www.nbc10.com/news/4642218/detail.html
No, they did not. They did not call in Search and Rescue teams. Police are not trained to do this. The outcome proves it.
I was told last night that this model of car has a trunk release inside the drivers door..if the car was unlocked...it's a possibility that oe of the boys kew this..
I do too.
I'm going to be sick.
I looks like yes, every time a child is missing, there is foul play.
However, I don't believe they were there the whole time.
There were, indeed, placed there.
If they brought a "drug dog" to try to find the kids, someone should get ousted.
Which of these is close to Camden, NJ?
Atlantic City, NJ 08401
Belleville, NJ 07109
http://tinyurl.com/7oj2w
My first thought last night, was that perhaps the car had an inside switch for openning the trunk (like, located in the glove box). But they are saying the car had been sitting for 3 months, I have to wonder, if there where such a switch, would this model require a working battery for the juice to operate it. Maybe someone knows a bit about this make and model of car?
Maybe FoxNews will take a look at their file footage, show it again and ask some questions.
Shameful too, doesn't the tabloid mentality know any shame at all?
had to be murder with a plastic bag over his head.
You'll never hear about it if they did. What most people don't realize is there are no standards for search dogs. Anyone can slap a vest on a dog and call it a search dog. We demand a lot from our dogs. We have two tests they must pass, and they also test the handler.
Sounds like the Jersey papers are wrong in their speculation and don't have the facts. How nice of them to smear one of the innocent victims.
It sounds drug-related for sure. I'm also wondering how they knew to look for Angel Martinez, and whether or not the father was TOLD to go look in the trunk of the car. That's what it sounds like to me.
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