Two suspects charged after children's remains were found in concrete and a suitcase

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

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

The charges come after police discovered the remains of Yesenia Dominguez, believed to be nine years old, in concrete in a metal container at a storage center on January 20.

About two weeks later, on Feb. 6, authorities said they found the remains of Jesus Dominguez Jr., believed to be 10 years old, hidden in a suitcase in the trunk of a car owned by Ms. Minjarez at a scrap yard in Pueblo. a city ​​with 111,000 inhabitants about 100 miles south of Denver.

Police said they were looking for the children, who had not been seen since the summer of 2018. On February 15, DNA testing confirmed that the remains were those of the missing children. That same day, police obtained arrest warrants for Ms. Minjarez and Mr. Dominguez.

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

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

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

That clue proved fruitless, police said.

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