2 missing boys found dead in used car lot

MANILA, Philippines - Two boys who had been missing since April were found dead at a used car lot in Barangay Wawa, Taguig City yesterday morning.

The bodies of three-year-old Dayne Buenaflor and James Naraga, four, were found on the back seat of a heavily tinted black 190 E Mercedes Benz (UGX-606) parked at a fenced lot owned by Leonardo Valenzuela along Dama de Noche street, a stone’s throw away from the barangay hall, city police chief Senior Superintendent Arthur Asis said.

Buenaflor is a nephew of Barangay Wawa chairman Phillip Buenaflor. The boys were reported missing on April 27.

According to residents, the Benz and other expensive cars and vans at the lot were being used as sources of spare parts.

Asis said the bodies were found by three boys who were asked by Butch Valenzuela, the lot owner’s brother, to clean the lot.

The boys smelled a foul odor coming from one of the cars. When they approached the Benz, they saw one of the doors was ajar. Upon opening the rear passenger door, they saw the decomposing bodies of the two children on the back seat, Asis said.

He told reporters that within days after the two boys were reported missing, their parents had searched for them at the used car lot. “They checked the cars, but did not see any children inside,” Asis said.

He said they are still trying to find out who owns the Benz.

It is possible that the boys were playing at the lot and accidentally locked themselves in the car and were unable to get out, Asis said, but added that they are still investigating the deaths.

He said the bodies of the missing boys did not bear any signs of a struggle or that they had been tied up, but that investigators will know for sure once the crime scene investigation results are released.

The boys’ parents identified their bodies through the clothes they were wearing. Asis said the bodies were so badly decomposed and “compressed.”

In an interview aired over radio station dzMM, Analyn Buenaflor said crime scene investigators told her that her son’s eyes were missing.

The bodies of the boys were taken to the Loreto Funeral Homes in Bicutan for autopsy.