Body of Missing 25-Year-Old Found Hidden Behind Coolers at Supermarket Where He Worked
Ten years after Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada went missing on Nov. 28, 2009, his family finally has answers about where he went.
On Monday, the Council Bluffs, Iowa, Police Department revealed that remains found behind a refrigerator in a now-deserted supermarket in January were those of Murillo-Moncada, who worked at the store when it was known as No Frills Supermarket.
“You don’t hear about these types of cases, people found in walls,” Sgt. Brandon Danielson told KETV. “Especially in this area. So that would be the odd part of about. We have missing person cases all the time, but this is just unique.”
“This is the first time in my career that I’ve seen a body in this type of condition,” Danielson added, according to The Washington Post.
The remains were identified by using DNA from Murillo-Moncada’s parents.
Danielson said the man’s mother had always believed that her son had not gotten far.
“The mother had an idea that he has never left ‘No Frills.’ I don’t know how she came up with that idea, but [his parents] were pretty upset,” Danielson said.
Police believe that Murillo-Moncada went to the store on the day he disappeared, after having an argument with his family, and climbed on top of a cooler, a space often used to store goods or used by employees who wanted a private place.
They theorize that he fell into the 18-inch-gap between the cooler and the wall, never to be found until January when the coolers were being removed.
The store had closed about three years ago.
At the time he disappeared, his mother, Ana Moncada, told the Daily Nonpareil that her son had been hallucinating.
“He was hearing voices that said ‘eat sugar,’” said Maria Stockton, who translated for Ana Moncada. “He felt his heart was beating too hard and thought if he ate sugar, his heart would not beat so hard.”
On the day he disappeared, “He said somebody was following him, and he was scared,” she said.
“It was a snowstorm at the time,” Danielson said, according to the Des Moines Register. “He left with no shoes, no socks, no keys, no car.”
Police believe that the noise of the equipment drowned out any call for help.
“It’s so loud, there’s probably no way anyone heard him,” Danielson said.
An autopsy showed no trace of trauma on the body, Danielson said.
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