Pair charged with first-degree murder of two Colorado children whose remains were found in concrete and a suitcase
By: Beth Templeton
Two people have been arrested after the remains of two children - one in a suitcase, and one in a slab of concrete - were found in Colorado. Jesus Dominguez (35) and Corena Rose Minjarez (36) have been charged with first degree murder and abuse of a corpse. Mr Dominguez is the father of the two children, however, Ms Minjarez, his girlfriend, is unrelated to the children.
Photo by: Pueblo from Flickr
The murdered children, Yesenia Dominguez, and Jesus Dominguez Jr, had not been seen since the summer of 2018, at this time they were three and five. Despite not having been seen for more than five years, the children had never been reported missing.
On January 20, Pueblo police responded to a report of suspicious activity, it was here that they discovered Yesenia’s remains in a “metal container in a storage unit that was filled with hardened concrete” according to Pueblo police. On January 31 police brought Minjarez and Dominguez, who was wanted on an outstanding warrant - in for questioning. At this time the two suspects claimed the children were in Phoenix Arizona; however, investigators followed up on the lead, with no success. Only days later, on February 6 police found Ms Minjarez’s car at a scrap yard, inside of which they found a suitcase containing the young boy’s remains.
Aside from the murder charge, Dominguez also faces a charge of theft of government benefits.
Julie Brekke who is the co-owner of Kings storage facility in Pueblo said she has dealt with a few challenging tenants over the years; but nothing compares to the discovery made on her property in January of this year. “There’s a lot of people affected by this. You know it affects this whole town.” said Julie Brekke.
Brekke said she had been renting a storage unit to Ms Minjarez for a few years. In November 2023, she had stopped paying her bill, leading her to be evicted from the unit. Despite this, the couple never showed up to claim any of the items within the unit even though Brekke had given them notice of the close-out date.
The only person to show up to claim any of the belongings was Minjarez’s mother, who was actually the one who discovered the metal container filled with concrete. Minjarez’s mother had alerted Brekke, who suggested they called the police after agreeing it did look suspicious. However, it wasn’t until Pueblo Police processed the container that Yesenia’s remains were discovered inside.
Brekke said that the horrifying discovery has led her closer to the suspect’s mother; “My heart bleeds for Corena's mom, as a mom myself, because I couldn't imagine what if one of my kids did that."
Jesus Dominguez and Corena Miranjarez are both charged with two counts of first degree murder and abuse of a corpse. Their bail is set at 2 million dollars and there is no attorney on record for either of them.
