BRIAN PALAGUACHI CAGUANA - 2 yo - Brockton MA

The bodies of a woman and her toddler son have been found in dumpster in
Brockton, Massachusetts.
Police received an anonymous call reporting a
body in a dumpster Sunday night.
Plymouth
County District Attorney Timothy Cruz says the bodies have been
identified
as 25-year-old Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela and her
two-year-old son, Brian Palaguachi.
The bodies were found in a dumpster behind 427 Warren Ave.
The manner and cause of death has not yet been determined.
Cruz says the investigation is ongoing, and there have been no arrests made.
Anyone with information is asked to call Brockton Police at 508-941-0234.

BROCKTON, MA (CNN) - A mother and her two-year-old son were found dead in a dumpster south of Boston.
"We don't believe it to be a random act, and
that's why we're working very hard on individuals that we believe may be
involved at this time," said Timothy Cruz, a district attorney in
Plymouth County, MA.
Police responded to the scene in Brockton after receiving an anonymous phone call Sunday.
Authorities said it appears both the woman and child were targeted.
"We do not believe this is a general threat to
public safety in the community," Cruz said. "Having said that, however,
as we stand right now, this investigation is focusing on an individual
who has murdered a mother and her young child."
Police haven't made any arrests so far.
Authorities said they don't know how long the bodies were in the dumpster, but the mother was last seen Thursday at her home.
Police also declined to say how the two died. Autopsies were expected to be performed on Monday.http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14028469

BROCKTON, Mass. -- The bodies of a woman and her 2-year-old son have
been found dumped in a trash container near their Massachusetts home.
The woman's body was stuffed inside a duffel bag.

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz says the 25-year-old woman's
body was found after police received an anonymous telephone call Sunday
night. He says the toddler's body was nearby. He won't say whether the
toddler's body also was in a bag or whether there were signs of trauma.

He describes a "terrible crime scene" near the family's home in
Brockton, a city of about 100,000 residents just south of Boston.

The woman had immigrated to the United States. She last was seen alive Thursday at her home.

Investigators say they don't know when the bodies were dumped. They have questioned several people but have made no arrests.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021406440.html

With the Edgar Playground just around the corner, the woman would leave her home at 427 Warren Ave. pushing a carriage with a young baby inside, Cardoza said, while a toddler boy walked beside her “kicking the soccer ball.”
[...]
“It’s terrible,” said Cardoza, 40. “I used to always see her walk by herself, her and her kids. This town has been getting worse and worse. I thought it was changing, but I guess not.”

It was unclear Monday evening if the baby in the stroller he saw was also Palaguachi-Cela’s child. The district attorney said she may have had a child living in another country but provided no further information. Court records indicate that Palaguachi-Cela came to Brockton from Ecuador.
http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/cops_and_courts/x938336410/Neighbors-stunned-at-bodies-found-on-friendly-Brockton-street

I found this to be very disturbing, is there a missing baby out there?

Massachusetts authorities said they have no suspects or motive yet in
the slayings of a young Ecuadorian mother and child in a town 20 miles
south of Boston.
The bodies of Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela, 25, and her 2-year-old
son Brian were found in separate bags in a dumpster behind their
Brockton apartment house, The Boston Herald reported.
Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said autopsies must first
determine the cause and manner of their deaths before authorities can
begin to learn what happened to them.
"We do not think this is a random act," Cruz said.
Palaguachi-Cela's common-law husband, Manuel Jesus Caguana, told The
Boston Globe he returned from a construction job in Virginia late Sunday
night after being unable to contact his wife since Thursday.
The two bodies were discovered just hours before the trash was scheduled to be picked up Monday, neighbors said.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/02/15/Bodies-of-mother-and-son-found-in-dumpster/UPI-86671297782978/#ixzz1E2hT98KO

The mother and son whose bodies were found in
a trash bin in Brockton late Sunday night both died of blows to the
head, according to Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz.Cruz said in a statement yesterday that
25-year-old Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela and her only son, Brian, who
was to turn 3 next month, both died of blunt force trauma to the brain
and head and that their deaths were homicides.
Palaguachi-Cela’s
body was found by a passerby in the trash bin around the corner from
her Warren Avenue home at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday. As investigators
sifted through the bin, they discovered Brian’s body in a duffel bag,
authorities said. Trash pick-up would have been Monday morning,
neighbors said. Authorities did not say how long they believe the bodies
were in the bin.
A spokeswoman for Cruz said yesterday that no one has been arrested and no suspects have been identified.
Palaguachi-Cela
was a native of Ecuador who came here about five years ago, according
to an interview Monday with a man who identified himself as Manuel Jesus
Caguana, her common-law husband and the father of Brian. Caguana could
not be reached for comment yesterday, but said that Palaguachi-Cela had
two daughters in Ecuador, as well, and that he and the mother were here
trying to raise money to support the family.
Beatriz
Almeida de Stein, Ecuador’s consul in Boston, said she planned to meet
with the family last night to discuss funeral arrangements and to offer
assistance.
Family members,
including Caguana and Palaguachi-Cela’s sister, have discussed having
her body sent to Ecuador, but also having a service here.
“They’re
trying to do something because of all of the community members in
Brockton,’’ de Stein said. “We’re just looking to see how we can help.’’
De Stein said she had worked with Palaguachi-Cela before to fill out legal documents.
“A young woman, and a kid — it’s terrible,’’ de Stein said. “The news was sad to hear.’’
Caguana
said in an interview that he had left recently for a short-term
construction job in Virginia, but that he grew worried over the weekend
because he had not heard from Palaguachi-Cela since Thursday. He
returned home Sunday night and at one point noticed police around the
home looking through the trash bin.
A short time later, after he was questioned by police, Caguana was told that mother and son were dead.
Caguana
said he did not know why anyone would want to hurt Palaguachi-Cela.
They shared the apartment with two other men, not an unusual arrangement
among immigrants with limited resources. Caguana said that one of the
roommates is now missing, his room cleared out. Police would not comment
on the roommate.
Paulette
Song, a spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Health and Human
Services, would not say yesterday whether any of the state’s family
support agencies had any involvement with Palaguachi-Cela.
Plymouth
Probate and Family Court records show that the state Department of
Transitional Assistance did file a court order to have Caguana pay
child support for Brian. The request was still pending.
Caguana
does not have a known criminal history except for an arrest last year
for driving without a license and operation of a motor vehicle with an
open container of alcohol. The charges were dismissed after he paid
court fines.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/02/16/mother_son_died_of_blows_to_head/

The husband and father of an
Ecuadoran woman and child killed and stuffed in a Brockton trash bin
returned to Massachusetts on Tuesday and called for a search for a
former roommate who lived with his family.

Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela, 25, and her 2-year-old son,
Brian Palaguachi, were found dead in the bin behind their Warren Avenue
apartment house Sunday. Both had been bludgeoned to death, the district
attorney's office said.Cela's common law husband, Manuel Jesus
Caguana, 24, returned from Virginia where he had been siding houses, to
learn his family had been slain.He said his family shared their first-floor
apartment with two other men, and one of them, Luis Guaman, has since disappeared."He
left suddenly Saturday morning. His room is totally empty. He took
everything. He didn't say where he was going," Caguana said in Spanish.Caguana
said he rushed back to Massachusetts when he couldn't reach his family
on the phone for three days and found his wife missing."She wasn't there.
The bedroom looked like somebody had just gotten up in the morning," he said.

He said a second roommate had just returned when police
knocked on the door and began asking questions. They asked who was the
last to throw out the trash, and Caguana said he had been out of town.
The roommate said he had disposed of some garbage but didn't see
anything suspicious.Caguana said he told investigators that his
wife was missing. He said police did not tell him where his wife was
found until Monday."It's horrible. How can someone kill my wife
and son and just throw them in the trash," Caguana asked.Police
are searching for the missing roommate who flew out of Logan
International Airport on Sunday night and returned to Ecuador.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/r/26883813/detail.html

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz
today expressed frustration with the nation’s porous borders, saying a
man wanted for questioning in the murders of a mother and her toddler
son fled the United States just 2 1/2 hours after the victims’ bodies
were found in a Brockton dumpster.

“This has been, to some extent, chasing ghosts,’’ Cruz said at a press conference this afternoon.



Cruz identified Luis Guaman as the man who was last seen with the
victims -- Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela and her 2-year-old son, Brian.
The murdered woman was overheard telling Guaman during that encounter
last week that she did not love him anymore.

Cruz said investigators now know that Guaman -- using the alias of
Segundo Castro – flew to Ecuador from John F. Kennedy Airport in New
York one minute past midnight on Feb. 14. The bodies of the 25-year-old
woman and son were found in a dumpster behind her Warren Avenue home
around 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 13.Cruz said police believed Guaman
purchased the airline ticket late last week, which led investigators to
believe the mother and son had already been killed by that time.

“He is the last person to see her, and he’s gone,’’ Cruz said.

Palaguachi-Cela apparently had more than one suitor. On Monday,
Manuel Jesus Caguana identified himself as the victim’s common-law
husband and the father of Brian. Caguana was out of state when the woman
and son were killed last week, officials have said.

Today Cruz said, “A two-year-old boy is dead. What does that have to do with a love triangle?”

Cruz spoke with reporters after a roommate of both Guaman and the
murdered woman appeared in Brockton District Court, charged with
misleading State Police and Brockton police investigating the double
homicide.

The roommate, Aparicio Velencia De La Cruz, was questioned by
investigators and told them that Guaman had left Brockton and was
heading to New York, Plymouth Assistant District Attorney Thomas
Flanagan said in court.
Flanagan said that what De La Cruz failed to tell police, however, was
that Guaman had an airplane ticket to Ecuador. Flanagan said in court
that De La Cruz’s failure to share that information with police left
them checking in New York, eliminating the chance that police could have
captured him when he landed at an airport in Ecuador.

However, De La Cruz’s defense attorney, Jonathan J. Moriarty, said
his client was overwhelmed by the police questioning and was in shock
after police showed him photographs of the bodies of the murder victims.

“He disagrees with the facts that he is being accused of lying,’’ Moriarty said.

De La Cruz, who was described as an illegal immigrant from Mexico,
was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail after pleading not guilty to a
single count of misleading police.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/02/roommate_of_mur.html?rss_id=Top+Stories

Brian Palaguachi Caguana - Obituary

Brian Palaguachi Caguana
March 17, 2008 - February 13, 2011

Brian Palaguachi Caguana, 2, of Brockton, died Sunday, February 13, 2011 in Brockton.

Born March 17, 2008 in Brockton, he was the son of Manuel J. Caguana and the late Maria A. Palaguachi Cela.

-------------------------

DA holds out hope for Ecuador slay suspect’s U.S. trial

The Plymouth District Attorney yesterday said he is “optimistic” a Brockton man will face trial for allegedly murdering a 25-year-old mother and her 2-year-old son last month — but acknowledged it will be difficult to bring the fugitive back from his native Ecuador.

An arrest warrant was issued for Luis Guaman, 40, on Feb. 18, and on Tuesday an Interpol warrant was issued, DA Timothy J. Cruz said yesterday.

“This is a heart-wrenching case that has shocked communities both here and in Ecuador,” Cruz said. “My plan has been to make sure we do everything we can do — getting an arrest warrant, a formal request for extradition, all those ducks in a row — then request that this guy be brought back here.”

Guaman boarded a flight to his homeland on Feb. 14, hours after Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela, 25, and her son Brian Palaguachi Caguana, 2, were found in a Dumpster — along with a bloodstained sledgehammer and Guaman’s fingerprints on the duffel bag that contained their bodies, prosecutors said.

Ecuador does not extradite its citizens, Cruz said, adding he is calling on theUnited States and the Ecuadorean governments to work together to return Guaman to Brockton “so that justice can be served.”

Beatriz Stein, the Ecuadorean consul in Boston, said she had “no idea” what was going to happen.

“Extradition doesn’t exist,” she said.

Lawyers in Ecuador were meeting to work out a solution tomorrow and may meet with the governor to urge him to make an exception to the law, said Manuel Jesus Caguana, father of the slain toddler.

“Right now we are just asking that they send (Guaman) here, because here, they have all the evidence and the law is the law,” Caguana said.

If Guaman is not returned, the family is afraid justice will not be done, said Luis Tacuri, Palaguachi’s brother-in-law in Ecuador.

“If he stays in Ecuador, there is no case,” he said. “We are a poor family, we don’t have money to keep on a lawyer and here it is all about the money. For this reason, we are scared.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1320678&srvc=rss

Suspect indicted in slayings of mother and toddler in Brockton

Luis Guaman, the suspect, is being held in Ecuador on false-passport charge


Luis Guaman, 41, has been indicted in
the slayings of Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela, of Brockton, and her
toddler son, Brian. Their bodies were found on Feb. 13 in a trash bin
outside their Warren Avenue apartment.

May 02, 2011 @ 11:15 AM
BROCKTON —


A Plymouth County grand jury has indicted Luis Guaman, who turned 41 on Sunday, on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela and her toddler son, Brian Cuanga Palaguachi.

But it remained uncertain on Monday if Guaman will ever stand trial for the slayings in the United States.

The victims' bodies were found on Feb. 13 in a trash bin outside the apartment house on Warren Avenue in Brockton where the mother and son were living. Guaman fled to Ecuador hours after the bodies were found and is being held there on false-passport charges.

In announcing the indictments on Monday, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said his office is "continuing to seek Guaman's return to the United States where he can stand trial for these brutal murders."

However, some experts have said that the constitution of Ecuador, which prohibits extradition of the country’s citizens, may keep Guaman there permanently.

Edgardo Rotman, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law and an expert in international criminal law, has said that Ecuador’s 2008 constitution overrides an extradition treaty between the United States and Ecuador, which was last updated in 1939.

“I don’t see any legal possibility (of extradition),” Rotman said recently.

In announcing the indictments, Cruz's press release said nothing about how his office might facilitate Guaman's return.

Meanwhile, in Ecuador, lawyers for Palaguachi-Cela’s parents had feared Guaman could be released after his public lawyers twice failed to show up to legal hearings on the passport charge, according to Williams Murillo Vera, a former immigration minister and lawyer for the family in Ecuador.

But at a hearing in Cuenca last month, a judge ruled that Guaman would remain in prison and ordered him to appear at trial on the charge, Murillo Vera said. If convicted, Guaman could face three to six years behind bars, according to Murillo Vera.

Posted May 15, 2011BROCKTON — A controversial fingerprinting policy targeting illegal immigrants has a clear goal, supporters say: Find undocumented, violent criminals for the purpose of deportation.

But experts and officials say it’s unclear whether the Secure Communities program – in place in Boston and being considered for the
entire state – could have impacted the case of Brockton murder suspect Luis Guaman.

Guaman is accused of bludgeoning a Brockton mother and son to death and leaving their bodies in a trash bin in February before fleeing to his native Ecuador, where he’s being held on a charge of using a false passport.

The federal plan requires police to send fingerprint information of suspects at the time of their booking not only to the FBI but to immigration officials.

City residents had the opportunity to voice their opinion of the plan Saturday at the last in a series of state-sponsored forums aimed at gauging public opinion.

To say the program could have played a role with Guaman would be pure speculation, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said.

“Obviously, it’s easy to sit back and play Monday morning quarterback,” said Cruz, who said he “looks forward to the day that Massachusetts complies” with the program.

“We need to know who these people are and we need to make sure we have that information,” he said. But as far as Guaman, “I don’t want to speculate.”

Guaman was arrested in Brockton on Feb. 15, 2010 – nearly a year before the murders – under the name Antonio Castro. Police said the suspect pulled a 3-inch knife on a man during an argument behind 62 North Warren Ave. Police struggled to remove him from his pickup truck and disarm him.

Guaman was booked under the name Antonio Castro. When he failed to appear in court, officials discovered he also used the alias Segundo Castro.

Guaman was also wanted on five other warrants, including four in New York and another in Milford. But officials say the case wades deeply into a gray area concerning Secure Communities.

“Perhaps it might have” helped, Brockton Police Chief William Conlon said. “We could only speculate what the outcome would have been. There are no guarantees.

“If you’ve never been fingerprinted coming into the country, what would it do if you’re fingerprinted when you’re arrested for something?” he said. “Does that necessarily prove you arrived here illegally?”

Joshua Goldstein, a Boston lawyer experienced in immigration law, said it’s not clear if the program would have “fundamentally changed what they’re looking for” in this case.

“It’s nice to say there would have been a technical fix to prevent such a horrible thing from happening,” he said. “But I don’t see how they would have done that.”

Secure Communities has been instituted in counties in 42 states. Gov. Deval Patrick has thus far declined to sign Massachusetts onto the program, which federal authorities want to mandate by 2013.

READ MORE about this issue.

http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/your_vote/x1046546092/Immigration-policy-s-impact-on-Brockton-murder-case-would-only-be-speculation-officials-say#ixzz1MUqTx5d1

Mass. authorities seek federal help in getting Ecuadorean man returned to face murder charges

May 19, 2011

BROCKTON, Mass. — Massachusetts authorities are enlisting federal help in getting an Ecuadorean man returned to the U.S. to face murder charges.

Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz, frustrated by Ecuador's refusal to send the suspect back to Massachusetts, has sent letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as well as the state's U.S. senators asking for their support.

Luis Guaman is accused of bludgeoning to death his housemate, 25-year-old Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela and her 2-year-old son Brian in February, then dumping their bodies in a trash container.

Authorities say Guaman then fled to his native Ecuador where he only faces charges of using a false passport.

The United States has an extradition treaty with Ecuador, but its constitution prohibits the country from sending citizens abroad for prosecution.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/40d5dd7cbfea40bd9cbe2e49d4108bdb/MA--Bodies-in-Trash/

Brockton family fears slaying suspect will go free

Brockton woman to testify by video in Ecuadorian trial


Posted Apr 27, 2012 @ 06:00 AM


BROCKTON —

The sister of a Brockton woman who was brutally murdered along with her
toddler son last year plans to tell a three-judge panel in Ecuador to
keep suspected killer Luis Guaman in prison.

Maria Eluisa Palaguachi, 42, of Brockton, was set to testify by video
conferencing in Needham on Wednesday in Guaman’s trial, but the
technology didn’t work. Palaguachi is the sister of Maria Avelina
Palaguachi-Cela, who was found bludgeoned to death along with her
2-year-old son, Brian, on Feb. 13, 2011.

Guaman, their accused murderer, fled to his native Ecuador under a
false passport hours before police found the bodies and has been held
under various charges in Ecuadorian jails.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that a three-judge court in
Cuenca, Ecuador, is trying Guaman on the murder charges, with a ruling
expected Monday.

Maria Eluisa Palaguachi and Brockton resident Manuel Jesus Caguana, 25,
the boyfriend and father of the victims, will testify by video on
Monday at 8 a.m.

Palaguachi and her sister Maria Emelia Palaguachi, both Brockton
residents, want Guaman, 41, kept in prison as long as possible. The two
sisters are concerned Guaman could get out of jail and hurt members of
their family.

“Something might happen and then they’re not going to do anything,”
Maria Eluisa Palaguachi told The Enterprise on Monday through a
translator.

Maria Eluisa Palaguachi said she prefers a second option – have Guaman
brought to the United States to stand trial. A grand jury indicted
Guaman in the murders in May 2011, and Plymouth County District Attorney
Timothy Cruz has made numerous attempts to bring him back to
Massachusetts, including issuing an Interpol warrant.

Maria Eluisa Palaguachi said she hopes the technology works on Monday.

“If it doesn’t work, he could get out of jail,” Palaguachi said.

Beatriz Almeida de Stein, Ecuador’s consul general in Boston, contacted
Palaguachi and Caguana about giving testimony from the consulate
general, located in Needham.

Palaguachi and Caguana were set to use Skype to testify, but the
technology didn’t work. Almeida de Stein said she’s complying with
orders from the Ecuadorian embassy in Washington, D.C.

“They’re doing it through the embassy so I’m taking orders through the embassy,” Almeida de Stein said.

She did not have any details about the trial and referred further questions to the embassy.

Brockton family fears slaying suspect will go free - Brockton, MA - Wicked Local Brockton http://www.enterprisenews.com/answerbook/brockton/x792221818/Sister-of-murdered-Brockton-woman-wants-Ecuadorian-judges-to-keep-Luis-Guaman-locked-up#ixzz1tafw7Ufk

Ecuador man sentenced to 25 years in US murder
8:53 p.m., Tuesday, May 8, 2012



Luis Guaman, right, is escorted in handcuffs to court in Cuenca,
Ecuador, Monday, April 30, 2012. The court found Guaman guilty of
premeditated murder in last year's bludgeoning death of Maria Palaguachi
and her toddler son in Brockton, Massachusetts. Under sentencing rules,
the three-judge court in Cuenca can sentence Guaman to between 16 and
25 years in prison. Sentencing is set for later this week.
Photo: Rodrigo Matute


QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A court in Ecuador has given a 25 year prison sentence
to man convicted last week of premeditated murder in the bludgeoning
death of a woman and her toddler son in Massachusetts.

Luis Guaman's case stirred controversy because U.S. prosecutors sought his
extradition, hoping to put him in prison for life without parole.
But Ecuador insisted on trying Guaman in his homeland because its new constitution bars extradition of its citizens.

The three-judge court in Cuenca, Ecuador, that convicted Guaman said
Tuesday it was also fining him $10,000. It had convicted him of the
February 2011 murders in Brockton, Massachusetts, of Maria Palaguachi,
25, and her 2-year-old son, Brian Caguana.

Their badly beaten bodies were found in a dumpster.


http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Ecuador-man-sentenced-to-25-years-in-US-murder-3521167.php#ixzz1uQIdhtF9