Store worker was found trapped behind shelves almost 10 years after going missing
Topics: US News
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: COUNCIL BLUFFS POLICE DEPARTMENT / CNN
Topics: US News
Workers at a grocery store in Iowa were shocked to discover the body of a former employee behind a stack of shelves after he was reported missing in 2009.
The parents of Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada reported him missing on 28 November, 2009, after the 25-year-old became upset and ran out of their home.
His parents said Murillo-Moncada had been acting irrationally, according to former Council Bluffs Police Capt. Todd Weddum, possibly due to medication he had been taking at the time.
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Authorities spoke with family members, other law enforcement agencies, detention centers and even the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in a bid to find Murillo-Moncada, but their search proved futile as he remained missing.
As time went on, Murillo-Moncada's parents were left with no official answers as to what happened to their son - until one day in January 2019.
A team of workers were on the job at the former No Frills Supermarket in Council Bluffs, Iowa, working to remove shelves and coolers from the building when they discovered a body.
When the store was in use, employees would reportedly climb on top of the coolers to take an unofficial break during their shifts.
Murillo-Moncada was employed at No Frills Supermarket at the time of his disappearance, and investigators believe he had climbed up into the space after running away from home, but became trapped after falling into an 18-gap between the cooler and the wall behind.
Weddum speculated at the time that noise from the coolers’ compressors may have drowned out any attempts Murillo-Moncada may have made to call for help, leaving him with no way out.
The No Frills Supermarket closed in 2016.
Murillo-Moncada's body was identified using his parents' DNA. He was also found in the clothes he had been wearing at the time he was reported missing.
Sgt. Brandon Danielson, with Council Bluffs Police Department, said: "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."
Per KETV, he added: “You don’t hear about these types of cases, people found in walls. 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.”
An autopsy conducted after Murillo-Moncada's body was found revealed no signs of trauma. As a result, his death was ruled as accidental.