Pair held in deaths of 2 kids missing for years before their remains were found in concrete and a suitcase

Two suspects were being held Monday in connection with the deaths of two Colorado children whose remains were found this year, one in a concrete-filled container and the other in a suitcase in a car’s trunk, jail records show.

Jesus Dominguez and Corena Rose Minjarez were arrested last week on two counts each of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the deaths of children Jesus Dominguez Jr. and Yesenia Dominguez, police in Pueblo said.

Investigators said they had not been aware that either was missing until last month after police made the grim discovery of Yesenia’s body. Neither had been seen since the summer of 2018, when Jesus was 5 and Yesenia was 3, police said.

The elder Dominguez is their father and he is in a relationship with Minjarez, who is not related to the children, according to NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver. NBC News could not immediately verify the relationship between the suspects and the children.

Both Dominguez, 35, and Minjarez, 36, remain held on a $2 million bond, Pueblo County Jail records show.

Their arrests came as investigators sought the public’s help in recent weeks.

On Jan. 20, Pueblo police responded to a report of suspicious activity, and they said officers found a metal container in a storage unit with hardened concrete. Two days later, police determined a girl was inside of the container.

Around that time, police said, they began looking into Dominguez and Minjarez as persons of interest, although they did not initially name the pair in a previous news release. Pueblo police did not immediately respond to a request Monday for further comment.

During interviews with police last month, the possibility of the children being in Phoenix was mentioned.

But investigators “followed up on that potential lead with no success,” police said.

Meanwhile, a car belonging to Minjarez was found in a scrap yard. A search of the car’s trunk on Feb. 6 resulted in the discovery of a boy inside of a suitcase, police said.

On Thursday, DNA tests confirmed the girl in the storage unit was Yesenia and the boy in the suitcase was Jesus, and arrest warrants were issued for Dominguez and Minjarez.

Aside from the murder charge, Dominguez also faces a charge of theft of government benefits.

Pueblo police said no missing person’s report had been filed regarding the children, and they were only alerted to the kids’ disappearance when the investigation began last month.