Thread: NJ: "immigrant farm workers" found dead on horse f

Springfield incident ruled a homicide
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By: DAVID LEVINSKY
Burlington County Times

dlevinsky@phillyBurbs.com

SPRINGFIELD - The two bodies found on a horse farm here Saturday were immigrant farm workers who appeared to have been bludgeoned to death, state police said on Sunday.

The exact cause of death is still pending the completion of an autopsy, but state police spokesman Sgt. Julian Castellanos confirmed the case has now been classified as a possible double homicide.

The investigation was launched at 8:30 a.m. Saturday after the bodies were found on the Sterling Chase Farm, a thoroughbred racehorse breeding farm set off Highland Road.

"They both appeared to have died from blunt force trauma to the head," Castellanos said Sunday.

The dead had not been positively identified but both were male farm workers from North, Central or South America who lived and worked on Sterling Chase Farm year-round, Castellanos said. He did not know their immigration status or how long the two had been working on the farm.
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Castellanos also declined to specify where on the farm the bodies were discovered or when and where the two workers were last seen alive.

No suspects were in custody Sunday, but Castellanos said investigators are actively pursuing several leads. He declined to specify.

The owners of the Sterling Chase Farm have declined to comment on the deaths.

The murders are believed to be the first homicide in Springfield in nearly 30 years.

March 02, 2009 03:10 AM

...funny, they wont' release the details regarding the homicide victim's immigration status...probably to protect the farm owners who hired them....and it seems two of their immigrant co-workers have suspiciously disappeared from the Farm.....great, two suspected Honduran illegals are killed and two others are at-large as "persons of interest"....hope the people of NJ are alerted..sounds like this could be a case involving gangs (probably MS-13 and drugs).....

Police identify bodies found in Springfield
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By: DAVID LEVINSKY
Burlington County Times

SPRINGFIELD — State police released the identities of two immigrant farm workers who were found bludgeoned to death on a horse farm here Saturday, and investigators also revealed they are looking for two missing workers who lived with the two dead men.

The dead workers were identified as Alex Aguilar and Marcial Morales-Maldonado. Both men are immigrants from Honduras who worked as laborers at the Sterling Chase Farm, a thoroughbred racing horse farm set off of Highland Road.

State police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Jones said the two men’s bodies were discovered laying face down outside the farm workers’ living quarters on the farm at about dawn Saturday by a female farm employee.

An autopsy by the Burlington County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of their deaths was murder from massive head trauma, Jones said. He declined to specify the suspected time of death or comment on the nature of injuries.

Both Aguilar, who was described as being in his mid-20s, and Morales-Maldonado, age 48, were immigrants from Honduras and worked on the Sterling Chase Farm year-round, Jones said.
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Their immigration status was not known and Jones did not know how long they had been working at the farm.

Jones said the two missing farm workers — identified as Carlos Reyes and Cesar Reyes — lived with Aguilar and Morales-Maldonado in the farm living quarters. Their ages were not known, but investigators said both were immigrants from Central America.

Jones said both men were last seen Thursday during the day and troopers have been unable to locate them during extensive searches of the farm and surrounding area.

Both Reyes are considered “subjects of interestâ€