This week, a trial is underway in Colorado for a woman accused of murdering two young children, aged 3 and 5, with assistance from their father. The children’s bodies allegedly remained hidden — one encased in “hardened concrete” and the other in a car trunk — for years, until suspicions from her mother prompted the discovery, say police and prosecutors.

Corena Minjarez, 37, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder of a victim under 12 by a person in a position of trust, along with two counts of corpse abuse for the 2018 murders of Jesus Dominguez Jr., 5, and Yesenia Dominguez, 3, as per court documents.

According to allegations, Minjarez and Jesus Dominguez, the children’s father, murdered the children and concealed their remains inside a unit at Kings Storage at 617 W Sixth Street in Pueblo and a suitcase in Minjarez’s car trunk. Dominguez reportedly accepted a plea bargain, agreeing to plead guilty to second-degree murder in return for his testimony against Minjarez, with whom he allegedly shared a rocky relationship, as reported by The Pueblo Chieftain, referencing testimony from local police detectives during an October 2024 preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors assert that as the couple’s relationship deteriorated, Minjarez allegedly redirected her anger and frustrations towards Jesus and Yesenia and experienced extreme jealousy toward the children’s biological mother. According to The Chieftain, family members of Minjarez told investigators they were worried about her treatment of the children, referencing testimonies from Pueblo detectives.

In a previous alleged incident, Minjarez reportedly confined Yesenia in a room, compelling her to eat a carrot. Prosecutors noted that even Minjarez’s teenage son allegedly admonished her for being too harsh on the children.

A friend of Minjarez’s told cops she allegedly confessed to hiding Jesus and Yesenia’s bodies in 2018 after they both died “the exact same way” of accidental causes.

Minjarez’s mother ended up being the one who reported her to police after she grew suspicious of a metal container full of concrete inside Minjarez and Dominguez’s unit at Kings Storage, which was getting ready to be cleared out by facility workers after the couple was evicted, according to the Chieftain. She told investigators about a number of disturbing signs she allegedly noticed over the years — including a “foul smell” coming from Minjarez’s car in the summer of 2018 — before she eventually called cops in January 2024, the Chieftain reports.

On Jan. 20, officers responded to Kings Storage and allegedly found the container.

“The metal container was searched, and the remains of a child were located within the container,” Pueblo Police said in a press release. It was Yesenia and her body was badly decomposed, with her autopsy report listing the manner of death as “homicidal violence” but with no cause due to the severity of the decomposition.

Police located Jesus’ body a couple of weeks later.

“During the investigation detectives located a vehicle belonging to a Corena Minjarez at a local scrap yard,” police said. “On February 6th, 2024, Police executed a search warrant on that vehicle. Police located a suitcase in the trunk of the vehicle. In the suitcase were the remains of a young male child.”

An autopsy revealed that Jesus was the body in question, and that he had also been a victim of “homicidal violence.” The investigation revealed that no missing person reports were ever filed for him or Yesenia.

Jury selection for Minjarez’s trial began Monday, and the proceedings are slated to run through Aug. 29, according to the Chieftain. Dominguez accepted his plea deal on July 10 and was reportedly on the witness list obtained by the local newspaper. He is due to be sentenced on Sept. 12.