A Colorado dad who helped his girlfriend dispose of their children's dead bodies after growing frustrations with potty accidents received 32 years in prison.
Jesus Dominguez had previously pled guilty to second-degree murder in the deaths of 3-year-old Yesenia Dominguez and 5-year-old Jesus Dominguez Jr. Last month, Dominguez testified against the children's mother, Corena Rose Minjarez, who was found guilty of first-degree murder in the children's deaths and sentenced to life in prison.
After Minjarez was found guilty, prosecutors stated that evidence "clearly demonstrated that Minjarez was responsible for the death of these two children and responsible for hiding the bodies under horrific conditions."
Yesenia was killed and put in a metal storage container where she remained for years until being found. Police found the boy in a suitcase in a trunk of a car in a scrap yard, KKTV-11 reported. The children died in 2018 and were found year.
In testimony during Minjarez's trial, Dominguez described the ongoing potty issues and how the children often rode around in the family vehicle in plastic bags, the Pueblo Chieftain reported.
In March 2018, Dominguez testified that the family was going to a school to pick up his nephew, and Yesenia was sitting on the floor in the back in a trash bag because Minjarez didn't want to get pee in the car. Dominguez said he went into the school, and when he came out, he was told by Minjarez that Yesenia wasn't breathing, the Pueblo Chieftain reported.
The newspaper reported that the couple quickly dropped off the other children and then decided to hide Yesenia's body rather than take her to the hospital because the child had bite marks on her body from abuse. Dominguez also testified that the couple were drug addicts, regularly taking Percocet and methamphetamine.
In testifying about Jesus Jr.'s death, Dominguez said the boy also was having regular accidents.
In one instance, he said that Minjarez used a spray wand at a car wash to punish the boy. The water hit him with such force it created lacerations in his groin area.
According to Dominguez, weeks later, after getting some drugs, Dominguez was outside the vehicle checking for law enforcement while Minjarez was using drugs. The Pueblo Chieftain reported that after Dominguez returned to the vehicle, he was informed that Jesus Jr. was not breathing.
"Child abuse often does not have many witnesses, and this case was no different. This made the collaborative effort of the law enforcement and prosecution team all the more important. We also recognize the community members who had to grapple with the traumatic facts and evidence in this case," prosecutors and law enforcement said in a statement following Minjarez's guilty verdict.
