MIGUEL ANGEL NUNEZ - Infant (2004) - Amarillo TX

Amarillo authorities are hoping an age
progression photo can lead them to a six year old boy who has been
missing almost his entire life.

When an Amarillo woman returned home from a
stint in jail six years ago she was expecting to find her husband and
toddler son. Instead police say her husband revealed he had taken the
boy to his parent's house in Brownfield.

But her in-laws said they were never caring
for him. Police have been looking for six year old Miguel Angel Nunez
who may now look like this, ever since.






Police say the investigation is tough because
the father could have taken the child virtually anywhere legally.

Cpl.. Jerry Neufeld of the Amarillo Police
Department says, "If he went somewhere with the child that would be
perfectly legal. Now that a court has come in and said she has full
custody it's going to be more of a court issue. It is somewhat of a
custody issue. But as far as when it becomes criminal, that will be up
to the district attorney's offices."

And over at those offices, 47th District
Attorney Randall Sims says, "At this point if there was anything legally
we could do based on the facts we can prove. Common sense would tell
anyone that we would be doing it."

So what authorities are hoping for now is
that somebody will see this photo and offer up information.

To do so just call Amarillo Crime Stoppers at
374-4400.

Miguel Angel Nunez, has been missing for 6-years and authorities
believe they have found him in a picnic cooler in an attic.

Police responded to a call from homeowners at the 1600 block of North
Seminole in Amarillo, TX, that said they were installing a ceiling fan
in the attic when they found an ice chest with an odor.

Although there has been no DNA testing yet, the police are almost
positive the child is Miguel Angel Nunez. Miguel resided at the home
with his father and mother before he disappeared.

Miguel was born in 2003, and he was 8-months old when he was left in the
custody of his father after his mother was incarcerated for an offense.
Miguel's mother said that when she returned home from jail, her husband
told her that he had taken the boy to his parent's house in Brownfield.
When the mother went to pick up her son she was
told by the in-laws that Miguel was not there.

The Special Crimes Unit have located a person of interest in the case,
which is believed to be the boy's father, Robert Sanchez Nunez and have
him in custody, but they will not confirm that at this time.

Rather unusual coincidence considering an updated age progression photo was released just a week ago?!

The Amarillo Police Department believe a boy
who was reported missing 6 years ago was found on Monday, July 19, in an
attic inside an ice cooler. Police responded to the 1600 Block of N.
Seminole on reports of a suspicious ice chest in the attic with a
disturbing smell. When they arrived on scene Amarillo Lt. Gary Trupe
was one of the first to see what was inside of the cooler.

"When we opened up the ice chest we could see
it contained the body of a small child," Lt. Trupe said early Thursday
morning at a press conference, "We then sent the remains to Lubbock, TX
to have an autopsy."

Police say the remains of the body are
believed to be Miguel Angel Nunez who has been missing since 2003 and
has not been seen since 2004. Officials said the residence of where the
body was found, is also where Miguel was living before he was reported
missing.

Miguel's mother reported him missing when she
was released from the Potter County Correction Center in 2004. When she
was arrested on a misdemeanor offense, Miguel was left in the custody
of her husband, Robert Nunez.

When she returned home 1 year later, she
found her husband but no child. She was told Miguel was with Roberts
parents in Brownfield TX. She later learned her son was not there nor
had he ever been there and she then notified police. She has worked with
Child Protective Services, 47th District Attorneys Office and Law
Enforcement investigators in an attempt to locate Miguel.

"We have notified the mother," Lt. Trupe
said, "We are working on getting her DNA so we can use it to determine
if it is Miguel's."

Police said the child was between 3 months - 1 year of age, and they will not have autopsy results for 4-6 weeks.

"I think people have been told for a long
time that this boy has been alive and he's either in Mexico or another
city but we are pretty sure that this is him."

Police now know how an infant's body ended up in an ice chest in the
attic of an Amarillo home, thanks to the alleged confession of the boy's
father.
Robert Sanchez Nunez, 36, told a detective Miguel Nunez died in 2004
while in his care, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday. The
father also said he put the body in the attic of the home in the 1600
block of North Seminole Street, a neighborhood of tidy, modest homes in
the northeast part of the city.
The father and son lived in the house at the time of Miguel's death.
The 47th District Attorney's Office has charged Robert Nunez, 36,
with aggravated perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury.
An arrest warrant recommends a bond of $100,000 for the third-degree felony.
But investigators continue working the suspicious death case.
"Robert Nunez is the only suspect in this case and additional charges
may be presented as the investigation proceeds," according to an
Amarillo Police Department news release.
The residents of the rental house on Seminole found a tightly sealed
plastic ice chest in their attic on Monday while installing a ceiling
fan. Upon starting to open the chest, a strong odor prompted them to
call police.
About 1:20 p.m., police discovered the body of an unidentified boy
less than 1 year old inside the chest.
Miguel Nunez's mother, Brenda Wheeler, told police the boy was about 8
months old at the time of his disappearance in April 2004, according to
the complaint.
Police located Robert Nunez in Borger Wednesday night where local law
enforcement agents arrested him. He faces charges there of resisting
arrest and failure to identify himself as a fugitive, according to
Hutchinson County Sheriff's Department records.
Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit detectives questioned him in Borger,
where he contradicted his previous testimony to a Potter County grand
jury on April 21 that Miguel was still alive, according to the
complaint. That resulted in the perjury charge.
The grand jury was investigating whether Robert Nunez interfered with
child custody and kidnapping. The boy's mother was in the Potter County
Detention Center at the time of his disappearance but later won custody
of Miguel, according to Friday's complaint.
"The defendant knew at the time of his statement under oath that Miguel
Nunez was deceased," according to an arrest warrant for the father.
Police believe the ice chest in which the body was found wrapped in a
plastic bag had been hidden in the attic for five to six years, said Lt.
Gary Trupe, head of the Special Crimes Unit.
An autopsy performed Tuesday was inconclusive.
Police are sending the well-preserved body to the University of North
Texas for DNA testing to confirm its identity and for testing by an
anthropologist to try to identify the cause of death, Trupe said. That
process could take at least four weeks.
The father had maintained through the years he had given the boy to an
unknown couple or family members, according to the court filing. At one
point he told Wheeler that Miguel was in Mexico.
"The defendant even stated to his probation officer that he had driven
to El Paso and that he was going to pick up Miguel Nunez to return him
to his mother," the filing states.

The remains of an infant found in a cooler back in July have been identified. The University of North Texas ran the DNA test on the human remains and found that they are in fact those of Miguel Angel Nunez.On July 19, police were called to a home in the 1600 block of N. Seminole. Officers found an ice chest in the attic containing the human remains of a small child. The home that the ice chest was found in was the home that little Miguel's father lived in at the time of the boy's disappearance.On July 23, Special Crimes Unit detectives interviewed the father Robert Nunez. According to the official complaint Robert Nunez said his baby son Miguel died while in his care, and he placed the body in a cooler.
That statement was in a complaint of perjury against Nunez, but it does not say that he confessed to killing his son. Nunez was charged of aggravated perjury by the Potter County District Attorney's office at that time. The father is the only suspect in this case and additional charges may be presented as the investigation proceeds.
The case is still being actively investigated and anyone with information is asked to call the Special Crimes Unit at 378-9468.

Plea bargain for dad over baby's body in ice chest
Published 08:43 a.m., Tuesday, June 14, 2011



AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A Texas Panhandle man has reached a plea agreement for 20 years in prison over the death of his baby whose body was found in an ice chest.

Prosecutors say Robert Sanchez Nunez pleaded guilty to enhanced aggravated perjury. A probation violation charge of assault causing bodily injury to a family member resulted in eight more years, which Nunez must serve concurrently.

Amarillo police say renters last July discovered the remains of Miguel Nunez, who was born in 2003 and was missing since April 2004. The boy's family for a time lived at the house.

The Amarillo Globe-News reports the father told police that the baby was given to an unknown couple or to other relatives. Nunez eventually confessed that his son died in his care. He was sentenced Friday.



Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Plea-bargain-for-dad-over-baby-s-body-in-ice-chest-1423175.php#ixzz1PGaUyDt6