April 3, 2008

BREAKING NEWS: Remains identified as those of Deysi Benitez

By Staff and Wire Reports

UPDATE - 1:42 PM

Investigators have identified a set of human remains in a Frederick County case as those of Deysi Benitez. All indications are that she was strangled and died as a result of a domestic homicide, officials said at today's press conference.

VIDEO: Remains found, footage from the scene (March 2)

Investigators have identified a set of human remains in a Frederick County case as those of Deysi Benitez, missing since her husband killed their four children and himself more than a year ago.
All indications are that she was strangled and died as a result of a domestic homicide, officials said at today's press conference.

No other physical trauma was detected during the autopsy.

Her family has been contacted. Her remains are still at the Medical Examiner's Office in Baltimore. She will likely be buried in El Salvador.

In March 2007, Frederick police discovered the decomposing bodies of Pedro Rodriguez, 28, and daughters Elsa, 9; Vanessa, 4; Carena, 16 months; and son Angel 3, in the family's Hillcrest home.

The medical examiner's office ruled Pedro Rodriguez's death a suicide by hanging and the children's deaths as homicides. The three girls died of suffocation and their brother of head trauma.

Police concluded that Pedro Rodriguez killed his children. Pedro Rodriguez and his children were buried April 12 in their hometown of Sensuntepeque, El Salvador.

The children's mother, Benitez, 25, was last reported seen March 18 outside the family's townhouse on Danielle Drive.

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