Two suspects charged after remains of children found in concrete and suitcase in US state Colorado

Two people were arrested and charged with the killings of two children whose remains were discovered encased in concrete and inside a suitcase in Colorado, authorities announced.

Corena Rose Minjarez and Jesus Dominguez were each charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse Friday, the Pueblo Police Department announced.

The charges come after police discovered the remains of Yesenia Dominguez, believed to have been 9, encased in concrete inside a metal container at a storage center Jan 20.

Roughly two weeks later, on Feb 6, authorities said they found the remains of Jesus Dominguez Jr, believed to have been 10, hidden in a suitcase inside the trunk of a car belonging to Minjarez at a scrapyard in Pueblo, a city of 111,000 people roughly 100 miles south of Denver.

Police said that they had been looking for the children, who had not been seen since the summer of 2018. On Thursday, DNA testing confirmed that the remains belonged to the missing children. That same day, police obtained arrest warrants for Minjarez and Dominguez.

Minjarez, 36, was taken into custody shortly after the warrant was obtained, and Dominguez, 35, was arrested Saturday, police said. Each was being held on a $2 million bond, jail records showed. It was unclear whether they had obtained a lawyer.

No missing persons report had ever been filed for the children, but police had previously been asked to make welfare checks on the children and had never located them, Sgt Franklyn Ortega said this month.

Minjarez and Dominguez were interviewed as persons of interest last month and had led police to believe that the missing children could be in Phoenix.

That lead proved fruitless, police said.

How the suspects were related to each other and the victims was unclear Sunday. An email to police was not immediately answered.