Camden, N.J. – Three boys who had gone missing earlier last week were found dead Friday in the trunk of a car parked near the yard where they were last seen, authorities said.
The bodies were discovered shortly before 7 p.m. by the father of one of the boys. It was not clear how the boys got into the vehicle or whether foul play was involved.
A neighbor, Carmen Cilla, said she saw David Agosto open the trunk of the maroon Toyota and collapse to his knees screaming.
Police rushed to the scene and cordoned off the property with yellow crime-scene tape, draping white sheets over the tape to shield the car from view.
Yolanda DeNeely Aguilard, an aide to Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, confirmed that the bodies had been found. She had no information on how the boys died.
The boys – Jesstin Pagan, 5, Daniel Agosto, 6, and Anibal Cruz, 11 – had vanished from the yard next to Anibal’s home on Wednesday evening.
The car where they were found was parked in a driveway next to the yard. It was not clear if the car had been searched previously.
The boys had been the subject of a massive search since their disappearance. About 150 police, firefighters and other officials had searched Friday using boats, helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and tracking dogs.
Neighbors in this poor, crime- ridden city of 80,000 people across the Delaware River from Philadelphia had passed out fliers to passing motorists with the boys’ photos and descriptions.
And earlier Friday, the children’s parents pleaded for help during a tearful televised news conference.
