Cold Case: Missing Boy's Body Found In Ice Chest After 6 Years - Father Prime & Only Suspect

CBS News

(AP) AMARILLO, Texas (AP) - Police say an infant boy's mummified body has been found stuffed in an ice chest stored in the attic of a Texas Panhandle home.

Amarillo Police Lt. Gary Trupe says renters of the house were installing a ceiling fan when they discovered the body in a small, tightly sealed plastic ice chest on Monday.

Authorities estimate the boy's age at 3 months to 1 year and that his body was in the attic five or six years.

The Amarillo Globe-News reports Friday that police are questioning a man in connection with the case.

Officers suspect the boy was Miguel Nunez, born in 2003 and missing since 2004. Nunez' family lived in the house about the time he disappeared.

A preliminary autopsy failed to identify the body and cause of death. DNA and other tests will be done.

Connect Amarillo

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- UPDATE:

Amarillo police believe they may have solved a bizarre 6-year-old missing person case that we profiled just last week. Police released a photo of what they believe little Miguel Angel Nunez would have looked like since his disappearance back in 2004 at the age of eight months.

His mother was in the Potter County Jail at the time of his disappearance. When she was released, she went home and found her husband Robert Sanchez Nunez, but no Miguel. He told her and police the child was living with relatives in Mexico at the time, but he was never found.

On Monday, of this week, police were called to the house where the Nunez's lived, after the current occupants found a cooler in the attic with suspicious contents.

"We believe that the remains were that of Miguel Angel Nunez who was born in 2003 and hasn't been seen since 2004," said Lt. Gary Trupe, with the Special Crimes Unit.

Investigators asked all the local news organizations to hold the story until they could find their prime suspect who was living in the area. Wednesday night, that man, believed to be the father but not yet confirmed by police, was found and is currently being questioned.

"The one person we needed to talk to immediately and we've been looking for him for three days. I'm sorry I couldn't use y'all because if I had used you guys saying "I'm looking for this person of interest", he was gone," said Trupe.

The baby's body was sent off for an autopsy and DNA samples will be taken to corroborate his identity. Lieutenant Gary Trupe believes it is Miguel and wants to bring closure for the mother and bring the guilty to justice.

"I'm hoping we can bring justice to him for Miguel and hold that person responsible for what...disposing of him, putting him up there in that attic, it's, gotta be...it's just terrible."

Right now, the single suspect in this case has only outstanding misdemeanor charges against him. Police are concerned that if he doesn't face felony charges which would keep him in jail, he would be a flight risk if he makes bail.

Previously Posted:

Amarillo police may have a break in a missing persons case we told you about last week.

Back in 2004, 8-month old Miguel Angel Nunez was left in the custody of his father while his mother was incarcerated for a misdemeanor offense.

Once she was released, she returned home to find her husband but no child, and ever since then Miguel has been missing.

Earlier this week, police responded to a call of an ice chest found in an attic with suspicious contents. It was discovered in the same house Miguel was living in when he was first reported missing.

Police determined it was the body of a young boy inside the chest and believe it to be Miguel.

Overnight, police were able to locate their main suspect, believed to be the boy's father, Robert Sanchez Nunez, but police will not confirm that at this time. That suspect is currently in custody and police are questioning him.

Autopsy results have been inconclusive so far and the body has been sent off to the University of North Texas for DNA comparisons.

Connect Amarillo

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- UPDATE:

We have new information regarding the father of Miguel Nunez. Police believe that the body found in a cooler earlier this week is that of Miguel, they are still waiting DNA results to confirm that.

The official complaint shows that Robert Nunez says his baby son Miguel died while in his care, and he placed the body in a cooler.

That statement was in a complaint of perjury against Nunez, but it does not say that he confessed to killing his son.

Charges related to the child death investigation were filed with the 47th District Attorney's office Friday.

Nunez was charged with aggravated perjury, he's accused of lying to the grand jury earlier this year, which is a felony offense.

At this time Nunez is the only suspect in this case, and additional charges may be presented as the investigation proceeds.

Previously Posted, Friday morning:

Special Crimes Unit detectives interviewed Robert Nunez, Miguel's father, in Borger, after his arrest there on Wednesday, July 21. After that interview, charges of Aggravated Perjury were filed against him by the Potter County District Attorney's office. That charge is related to Nunez's prior testimony in front of a grand jury earlier this year.

Nunez is the only suspect in the case and additional charges could be filed as the investigation continues.

Previously Posted Thursday evening:

Amarillo police believe they may have solved a bizarre 6-year-old missing person case that we profiled just last week. Police released a photo of what they believe little Miguel Angel Nunez would have looked like since his disappearance back in 2004 at the age of eight months.

His mother was in the Potter County Jail at the time of his disappearance. When she was released, she went home and found her husband Robert Sanchez Nunez, but no Miguel. He told her and police the child was living with relatives in Mexico at the time, but he was never found.

On Monday, of this week, police were called to the house where the Nunez's lived, after the current occupants found a cooler in the attic with suspicious contents.

"We believe that the remains were that of Miguel Angel Nunez who was born in 2003 and hasn't been seen since 2004," said Lt. Gary Trupe, with the Special Crimes Unit.

Investigators asked all the local news organizations to hold the story until they could find their prime suspect who was living in the area. Wednesday night, that man, believed to be the father but not yet confirmed by police, was found and is currently being questioned.

"The one person we needed to talk to immediately and we've been looking for him for three days. I'm sorry I couldn't use y'all because if I had used you guys saying "I'm looking for this person of interest", he was gone," said Trupe.

The baby's body was sent off for an autopsy and DNA samples will be taken to corroborate his identity. Lieutenant Gary Trupe believes it is Miguel and wants to bring closure for the mother and bring the guilty to justice.

"I'm hoping we can bring justice to him for Miguel and hold that person responsible for what...disposing of him, putting him up there in that attic, it's, gotta be...it's just terrible."

Right now, the single suspect in this case has only outstanding misdemeanor charges against him. Police are concerned that if he doesn't face felony charges which would keep him in jail, he would be a flight risk if he makes bail.

Previously Posted Thursday morning:

Amarillo police may have a break in a missing persons case we told you about last week.

Back in 2004, 8-month old Miguel Angel Nunez was left in the custody of his father while his mother was incarcerated for a misdemeanor offense.

Once she was released, she returned home to find her husband but no child, and ever since then Miguel has been missing.

Earlier this week, police responded to a call of an ice chest found in an attic with suspicious contents. It was discovered in the same house Miguel was living in when he was first reported missing.

Police determined it was the body of a young boy inside the chest and believe it to be Miguel.

Overnight, police were able to locate their main suspect, believed to be the boy's father, Robert Sanchez Nunez, but police will not confirm that at this time. That suspect is currently in custody and police are questioning him.

Autopsy results have been inconclusive so far and the body has been sent off to the University of North Texas for DNA comparisons.

Robert Sanchez Nunez

Police now know how an infant's body ended up in an ice chest in the attic of an Amarillo home, thanks to the alleged confession of the boy's father.

Robert Sanchez Nunez, 36, told a detective Miguel Nunez died in 2004 while in his care, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday. The father also said he put the body in the attic of the home in the 1600 block of North Seminole Street, a neighborhood of tidy, modest homes in the northeast part of the city.

The father and son lived in the house at the time of Miguel's death.

The 47th District Attorney's Office has charged Robert Nunez, 36, with aggravated perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury.

An arrest warrant recommends a bond of $100,000 for the third-degree felony.

But investigators continue working the suspicious death case.

"Robert Nunez is the only suspect in this case and additional charges may be presented as the investigation proceeds," according to an Amarillo Police Department news release.

The residents of the rental house on Seminole found a tightly sealed plastic ice chest in their attic on Monday while installing a ceiling fan. Upon starting to open the chest, a strong odor prompted them to call police.

About 1:20 p.m., police discovered the body of an unidentified boy less than 1 year old inside the chest.

Miguel Nunez's mother, Brenda Wheeler, told police the boy was about 8 months old at the time of his disappearance in April 2004, according to the complaint.

Police located Robert Nunez in Borger Wednesday night where local law enforcement agents arrested him. He faces charges there of resisting arrest and failure to identify himself as a fugitive, according to Hutchinson County Sheriff's Department records.

Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit detectives questioned him in Borger, where he contradicted his previous testimony to a Potter County grand jury on April 21 that Miguel was still alive, according to the complaint. That resulted in the perjury charge.

The grand jury was investigating whether Robert Nunez interfered with child custody and kidnapping. The boy's mother was in the Potter County Detention Center at the time of his disappearance but later won custody of Miguel, according to Friday's complaint.

"The defendant knew at the time of his statement under oath that Miguel Nunez was deceased," according to an arrest warrant for the father.

Police believe the ice chest in which the body was found wrapped in a plastic bag had been hidden in the attic for five to six years, said Lt. Gary Trupe, head of the Special Crimes Unit.

An autopsy performed Tuesday was inconclusive.

Police are sending the well-preserved body to the University of North Texas for DNA testing to confirm its identity and for testing by an anthropologist to try to identify the cause of death, Trupe said. That process could take at least four weeks.

The father had maintained through the years he had given the boy to an unknown couple or family members, according to the court filing. At one point he told Wheeler that Miguel was in Mexico.

"The defendant even stated to his probation officer that he had driven to El Paso and that he was going to pick up Miguel Nunez to return him to his mother," the filing states.



http://www.amarillo.com/stories/072410/new_news2.shtml

Cold Case: Missing Boy's Body Found in an Ice Chest

July 23, 2010

Texas Authorities 'Confident' Remains Belong to Missing Boy, Miguel Nunez


A police age-progression image of what Miguel Nunez might have looked like at a current age.

Texas homeowners stumbled upon a cooler in their attic emitting a suspicious smell as they installed a ceiling fan. Their discovery Monday finally may solve the six-year-old missing child case of Miguel Angel Nunez.

Police in Amarillo, Texas, were called to the home to investigate the ice chest, and upon opening the cooler found the remains of what appeared to be a small child. The body looked as if it had been in the cooler for a long time, but was not completely decomposed.

"I could see the hair on the skull," said Lt. Gary Trupe of the Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit of the Amarillo Police Department.

Preliminary results of an autopsy returned Tuesday indicated the remains were those of a small child. After receiving confirmation that it was the body of a young boy, Trupe said the police grew confident that the remains were those of Miguel.

"We're very confident it is," Trupe told ABCNews.com. "That was the house they lived in, and the place he was reported missing from originally."

Miguel Nunez was born in 2003 and has been missing since 2004, according to police.

His mother left her young son in the custody of his father while she served jail time for a misdemeanor offense. When she got out of jail, the husband said the boy was staying with relatives in Mexico, but he has not been seen since.

Police have identified the boy's father, Robert Nunez, as the primary and only suspect in the case.

After a three-day search, authorities arrested Nunez on a traffic warrant in Borger, Texas. According to police, Nunez provided a false name and resisted arrest.

It was not immediately clear if Nunez had retained a lawyer.

Nunez is being held on a felony charge of aggravated perjury because this latest development seems to conflict with testimony he gave before a grand jury in 2009.

"Information had been given by his dad that the boy was in several places," Trupe said.

"At first we could find no signs of foul play," Trupe said, "and this is where it's led us to now."

Police Hope New Discovery Will Finally Solve Old Case

Trupe is optimistic that police will be able to bring additional charges once more is known.

"Hopefully, some people will come forward with some additional information now that we've found the boy," he said.

The cause of death and how long ago the boy died are two of the most important outstanding questions.

"We're feeling that it's possible that he's been in [the cooler] since he was first reported missing in 2004," Trupe said.

It may take up to six weeks before police have the results of the full autopsy, which should help answer those questions.

DNA testing also will help confirm the police's hypothesis that the remains belong to Miguel.

http://abcnews.go.com/News/police-missing-boy-angel-nunezs-remains-found-cooler/story?id=11237083&page=1

http://www.woodtv.com/dpps/news/strange/babys-mummified-body-found-in-TX-attic-_3505146