Bodies of missing N.J. boys found

[Another Bill C.]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8349578/

Bodies found in the trunk of an abandoned car.

[AlCzervik]

1. Thats is so fucking sad, horrible, no words.

[Hazelrah]

2. horrible accident or terrible crime?

I work in Phila and there was a lot of speculation in my office about the boys possibly drowning in the nearby river. Every summer you hear about a couple of kids trying to cool down in the heat and getting in over their heads.

But being found in the trunk of a car?

What’s more likely, they crawled into the trunk of a car to play and accidentally locked themselves in and then didn’t hear their names being called or that someone killed them and put them in there.

In either case, its just so damn sad.

[AlCzervik]

4. this has happened b4, kid or kids in a trunk playing hide and seek

and then they can't get out.

[MrMonk]

13. From an earlier news report

"Elba Cruz, Anibal's mother, said she was watching the boys play in the yard when she went inside for a few minutes. When she returned, the boys were gone."

It's likely that they hid themselves in the car trunk to "surprise" the mother. It's too similar to last fall's incident where two little girls hid themselves in the leaves by the curb and one of the fathers drove his truck over them.

[Skittles]

3. I don't think it is right to display a picture of a parent's grief

it doesn't seem right to me

[DS1]

10. We do it with Iraqis without batting an eye

:shrug:

[Skittles]

20. yeah

"those people", black people - is it done with white folk? I don't see it that often.

[Saphire]

5. R.I.P.

[fooj]

6. OMG!

:cry:

[Fridays Child]

7. Jesus! And nobody heard them? How could that be?

I wonder if they were put in the trunk after they died.

This sucks so bad.

[DS1]

8. Probably playing and got locked in

Damn

[Cerridwen]

9. ..

:cry:

[roguevalley]

73. It must have been terribly hot and without air, they probably

suffocated. Poor families. The father found them. May he find a way to live with his grief. All poor people have are their kids.

[rocktivity]

11. Of course, they just HAD to be found by the FATHER of one of the boys...

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

rocknation

[tibbir]

12. This is just so unbelievably sad.

[Danmel]

14. Those poor babies

I have an 11 year old boy, I can't imagine anything so horrible. Those poor parents too. I live in the NYC metro area so they've been on the news- what a sad sad story.

[Miss Chybil]

15. What a horrible shame. nt

[Catchawave]

16. So tragic.....

:cry: :grouphug: :cry:

[DuaneBidoux]

17. New cars have releases in trunks...of course something Repukes would fight

against. Too expensive. Tell that to the parents of these poor kids.

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. I think I'm going to fucking throw up

Absolutely horrendous.

[Up2Late]

19. Bodies of three missing boys found in Camden, N.J. (Reuters)

(I don't know if this has any NEW info, but it sounds like a tragic accident to me.)

Bodies of three missing boys found in Camden, N.J.

Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:25 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The bodies of three young boys missing for two days were found on Friday in the trunk of an abandoned car in Camden, New Jersey, police said. Police said they had no immediate information on how the children -- Anibal Cruz, 11, Jesstin Pagan, 5, and Daniel Agosto, 6 -- died or whether they were victims of foul play.

Police used helicopters, boats and search dogs to comb the area since the boys disappeared from a backyard late on Wednesday afternoon. The mother of one of the boys said earlier she had been outside with the boys but went inside to check on food cooking in the kitchen. When she came back outside, she said, they were gone.

The abandoned car was near where the boys were last seen, police said. Family members held a news conference earlier on Friday pleading for the children's safe return and offering a $9,000 reward.

The southern New Jersey city of 80,000 people, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, is America's most crime-ridden city, ranking worst in six categories of crimes including murders and rapes. It is also one of the nation's poorest cities, and half its children live in poverty.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

(link above)

[UpInArms]

21. 3 Camden boys found dead in car trunk (too sad :(

http://www.courierpostonline.com/1119665948.html

CAMDEN -- The bodies of three missing boys were found this evening in the trunk of a car near the site where they vanished two days earlier, authorities said.

The grisly discovery was made about 7 p.m. in the city's largely Puerto Rican Cramer Hill section.

TV news footage showed David Agosto, father of one missing boy, opening the trunk of a car near where the children disappeared, then recoiling in shock at the scene.

Yolanda DeNeely Aguilar, an aide to Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, confirmed that the bodies had been found. She had no information on how the boys died.

The three boys --- Anibal Cruz, 11; Daniel Agosto, 6, and Jesstin Pagan, 5 --- were last seen Wednesday afternoon playing outside Anibal's home in the 900 block of Bergen Street.

...more...

[Bluebear]

22. First I heard of it today!

Of course, all the media is in Aruba.

[candy]

23. I feel they probably got in themselves and it shut------

positively awful for the poor little guys.

[madeline_con]

25. which makes me wonder...

How long they were missing before anyone noticed. I mean, with all the commotion, from cops and all, or parents calling, they'd kick and scream if they were still alive, right?

[Bluebear]

26. And why no Amber alert?

[candy]

28. I would assume so----they said the car was parked at a house--

next door so why wouldn't someone hear them?

They also said the 2 older boys were mentally challenged and the youngest one was just kindergarten age.

This was on Channel 7 in Boston.

[radwriter0555]

32. Not if they were tired and just kind of laid down, started to nap, and

then just suffocated...

Accidents really can, sometimes, horribly just happen.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. It's been hot...

They could have passed out before they even realized something was terribly wrong. This is heartbreaking! I'm so sorry for them...for their parents. :cry:

[Pachamama]

34. Haven't heard about the details, but imagine the heat generated inside the

trunk! I mean they say not to leave a child or dog in the car and we all know in the summer heat and sun how fast the car becomes boiling inside....imagine the trunk...imagine the poor little boys inside in the sweltering heat....

This is just so awful and tragic :cry:

[eleonora]

35. you take naps in trunks now?

Somebody killed them and put them there, that's my guess...but of course I could be wrong.

[lastliberalintexas]

66. A child could easily fall asleep in a warm trunk

Children "play" in the strangest things, including trunks, old iceboxes and freezers, storage bins, etc. Once in the trunk, the warmth would lead to lethargy which would lead to a nap/pass out (which is also why most traffic accidents involving sleep occur in the winter months when the automibile's heater is running).

IF this was an accident (and I don't think they've said yet), it's one of many that will unfortunately happen this summer.

[madeline_con]

24. I saw that earlier.

Wouldn't someone look in all the places a kid could hide or crawl into, or get stuck in???

[MrSlayer]

27. I hate to be a cynic but I think the parents did it.

I just don't buy their story.

[Bluebear]

29. Which parents? Aren't there 3 sets involved?

[bunkerbuster1]

43. Let's not jump to conclusions. We should wait for the experts

to weigh in

[bitchkitty]

58. ARGH! No warning! n/t

[bunkerbuster1]

59. WARNING: GRAPHICALLY HARPY ABOVE.

better?

[MrSlayer]

64. Oh I am waiting, I just have a nasty suspicion.

The story doesn't sound right to me. They were watching the kids, stepped inside for 10 minutes and when they came out they were gone and no one thought to look in the trunk? No one heard them banging on it or anything trying to get out? I'm not buying it. It sounds too fishy and we've seen this type of thing too many times. I hope I'm wrong.

[lastliberalintexas]

68. "and we've seen this type of thing too many times."

Unfortunately we see many dead children every year from heat stroke/suffocation because they play in such things as trunks, refrigerators, freezers, storage bins and the like. Sometimes someone puts the child there, but most of the time it's just a terrible accident. And it's something every parent should be warning their children about.

http://www.kidsandcars.org/trunc/factsheet.htm

[bunkerbuster1]

69. Another unmentioned possibility--kid's might've deliberately ignored

the calls for help at first. If they were doing a stunt, they'd all keep quiet inside. The 11-year-old might've had the bright idea to do this, not realizing how quickly they might collapse from heat exhaustion.

Obviously this should be investigated to see if any foul play occurred, but I suspect this is just a horrible, horrible accident.

My heart goes out to the families; I've a 5 year old myself.

[gate of the sun]

30. I am very sorry to hear this

was watching it on local news.....

[Reciprocity]

31. So very, very sad.

It is my understanding that the car was in plain sight not very far from the yard where they were last seen. I know I saw footage of police looking in garbage cans and sheds, dogs following a scent to the river, volunteers searching everywhere, so how come no one looked in the trunk of this abandon car, that was almost in the yard of where the children where last playing? How come no one heard them crying for help? I heard one commentator say they may have suffocated. I was not aware that the trunk of any car was airproof. If they were killed somewhere else and then put in the car later, how was this done without the police, volunteers, neighbors and the media see it?

[malaise]

Really sad

but since kids do climb into trucks, why weren't all trunks in the area searched. They may well have been dead from heat in minutes, but how did they take so long to discover them. Damn.

[ngGale]

36. Heard this today, it's very sad ...

n/t

[whosinpower]

37. They should make trunks

To be NOT airtight.

[lynne]

39. You know, I don't think they are -

- when you consider you can push in or remove the back seat through the trunk and the lip of the trunk when closed doesn't have a rubber seal. Probably not a lot of air can get in but I think that some can. I would imagine the intense heat being in the trunk is what got them before lack of oxygen.

No matter how it occurred, it is a true tragedy. My heart goes out to the families and neighborhood.

[LisaL]

41. You do realize that if you leave the child in a car itself, in hot

weather, the child will die from the heat?

[lastliberalintexas]

65. That would allow rainwater in as well

You realize that right? Which is why newer cars have pull tabs inside the trunk to release the hatch. But even then the child has to actually know or understand that they are in danger if locked in a trunk...

[FlaGranny]

38. Kids have been

doing things like that always. The first story I heard of a kid dying in the trunk of the car was more than 50 years ago. Hundreds of kids have died in refrigerators until manufacturers removed the old style latch locks. It is the law in most places to remove doors from refrigerators when you discard them.

I even remember once, as a kid, getting into the trunk of my parents' car to hide, although I didn't close it tight.

What I find hard to believe is that the police and searchers didn't look in that car sooner. It probably would not have helped anyway, though. Kids can die within a couple of hours locked inside a car - from the heat - not from lack of air.

Very sad story.

[LisaL]

40. Supposedly, they did dog searches as well.

Why didn't the dogs smell anything? Police should have searched the car.
In fact, they did search the car, but it's not clear if they looked in the trunk. How incredibly stupid if they didn't. It's a well known fact kids can hide in a trunk and get stuck.

[NYdemocrat089]

42. This is so tragic.

n/t

[wakeme2008]

44. Officials: Missing N.J. Boys Suffocated

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Missing-Children.html

une 25, 2005
Officials: Missing N.J. Boys Suffocated
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:28 a.m. ET

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) -- Three boys whose bodies were found in the trunk of a car following a massive, two-day search died from accidental suffocation, not foul play, authorities said Saturday.

The bodies were discovered by one of the boy's fathers, who opened the car trunk Friday night after searchers had scoured the neighborhood and the nearby Delaware River on foot, in helicopters and by boat.

..NO more at link.....

Sorry to hear this but glad in one way, there was no outside killers...

[Old and In the Way]

45. I cannot imagine the horror that father felt when he opened that trunk.

I cannot imagine anything worse in life...

[annabanana]

46. Just how "hard" were the local authorities looking for

these poor, curious, playing children? The car was in the VERY YARD that they disappeared from..

I can understand the families and volunteer searchers overlooking this hazard.. BUT NOT THE PROFESSIONALS

[Enraged_Ape]

47. This is just terrible

Our Honda Civic has an emergency opener in the trunk, lit up by a fluorescent sign. At first I thought, "Why?" But now it's pretty clear.

I don't know how old these boys were or how old this car is. But this should be standard equipment on any car.

[Syncronaut Seven]

53. Our '02 Neon has a glow in the dark emergency release in the trunk

I grasped it's significance immediately. It's dificult to fathom how they missed something so obvious.

So very sad.

[wakeme2008]

54. older car... the Fed force the auto industry

to put it in cars because kids were dying like this.

Do no know what year that was.

[Spinzonner]

48. How can they know it was 'accidental' unless they know

how they came to be in the trunk ?

It's theoretically possible for them to have been lured and locked into the trunk and died from suffocation. That would hardly be 'accidental'.

Without further information and from the article, all that seems sure is that they didn't die before entering the trunk or from means other than suffocation.

[jobycom]

52. Good question.

[Catchawave]

49. So tragic :(

Wonder where this car was that nobody heard their cries for help? I would imagine 3 little boys can make alot of noise?

[insane_cratic_gal]

50. car wasn't theirs?

who closed the trunk.. why did no one hear them. how did they get in, but unable to get out?

It just doesn't add up.

I know kids do dumb things that end up tragic but there are still alot of unanswered questions.

[jobycom]

55. Closing the trunk would be easy, but who opened it?

And how did the father open it? Is there some outside push button to open the trunk? If so, why didn't someone open it when they searched the car the first time?

I'm missing something that may be easy to explain, but it seems like the kids would have needed a key, and the father would have needed a key. Or do Camrys have back seat entry to the trunk? If so, again, why didn't someone look in when they searched the car the first time?

Just too awful for words.

[wakeme2008]

57. the REAL question is why didn't the POLICE ask everybody to open their

trunks,, the Police know about kids dying in there. A father may not think of that, but the Police should have.

[wakeme2008]

56. this happens all the time

a couple kids a year in SUMMER die this way..

The old timey cars require a key to open the trunks, but in the 70s car started to had buttons to open the truck from the inside...

What does a trunk look like to a 8 yo... A FORT....... and a HIDING place...

[sendero]

51. Stories like this..

.... are a parent's worst nightmare. I feel sick.

[geckosfeet]

62. OK,, how about some legislation to require emergency releases

on the INSIDE of a trunk. Or at least some kind of quick or easy lock release. Inexpensive and simple to design. It would not be needed often but when it does,,, it would be a godsend.

The SS and criminal elements would not be able to stuff people in trunks anymore but thats a small price to pay.

[Enraged_Ape]

63. See post #47 and #53

Many (if not all) cars today have these emergency releases, both foreign and domestic. I don't know what the make, year, and model of the car was that these boys were trapped in.

[geckosfeet]

70. Thanks. I saw them,, I have 97 Accord, no inside release mechanism

that I can see. You would think this would be a common sense thing. Not that people get locked in a trunk every day but jeez,,, what if you do?

[Enraged_Ape]

71. I don't think the emergency trunk release was adopted until 2000

Still, it's a damn shame that it wasn't picked up until then. It almost seems like a no-brainer, in retrospect.

[TeeYiYi]

60. Terribly sad. Mandatory trunk searches should be standard . . .

Standard search protocol for persons under the age of 16 years should include an immediate search of every car trunk within a certain distance of the Point Last Seen, particularly in hot weather. Also, we might consider the need to immediately search any freezers, old refrigerators, any lockable device large enough to contain the missing person.

During July-August 1998, at least 11 U.S. children died in three separate incidents of car trunk entrapment:

Incident 1. On July 13, 1998, at approximately 6 p.m., four children aged 2-5 years were discovered inside the closed trunk of a car in Gallup, New Mexico. The children had climbed into the car's open trunk and had not been seen for 1 hour before a search began. They were found approximately 1 hour after the search began. The outside ambient temperature that afternoon was 90 F (32.2 C).

The children were rushed to a local emergency department, where three were pronounced dead. The remaining child, a 5-year-old girl, was transported to a tertiary-care hospital, where her rectal temperature was recorded at 108 F (42.2 C); she died on July 14. No carbon monoxide was detected in blood samples of the children. The autopsy report cited hyperthermia and asphyxia as the causes of death.

Incident 2. On August 2, 1998, at approximately 1 p.m., two brothers aged 2 and 5 years from Greene County, Pennsylvania, were found dead in the trunk of their parents' car in front of their house. The boys had found the car keys, opened the trunk, and climbed inside. They were missing for several hours during the morning and early afternoon. The outside ambient temperature that afternoon was approximately 85 F (29.5 C). The autopsy report cited hyperthermia and asphyxia as the causes of death.

Incident 3. On August 8, 1998, at 4:15 p.m., five girls in West Valley City, Utah, aged 2-6 years, were found dead inside the trunk of a car owned by one of the children's parents. The car had been parked at one of the children's residence. The outside ambient temperature was 100 F (37.8 C). The vehicle's trunk-release lever was adjacent to the driver's seat, and at least one of the two 6-year-old girls reportedly knew how to operate the release lever.

The children had not been seen for approximately 20 minutes before a search began and were found approximately 1-1/2 hours after the search began. Liver temperatures taken at the death scene 1-1/2 to 2 hours after the children were found ranged from 99 F to 117 F (37.2 C to 47.2 C). The autopsy report cited the cause of death as hyperthermia.

http://www.wemsi.org/hyperthermia.html

I remember the story of the 5 girls in West Valley. It was a horrible tragedy. The kids were cousins — daughters of two sisters; one sister was tending all 5 at the time. :cry:

TYY

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

61. That is a nightmare - an absolute nightmare

I pray for the families - especially the Dad who found them

[deadparrot]

67. Sick. Sick.

So sad.

Poor kids...that's a loss that could have been prevented.

Prayers going out for their friends, family, and community...

[rainbow4321]

72. Did they use dogs in the search??

Just wondering...could they have tracked the kids'/bodies scents and followed the scent trail to the car trunk?

Another question: how the heck did they get the trunk open? Did it need a key to open it or did the car have an "open" latch in the front by the driver's side? Hindsite is 20/20, I know, but if only the car had been locked and the kids didn't have access to the inside of the car :(