PUEBLO, Colo. — Remains found in a metal container filled with hardened concrete and a suitcase belonged to two children who were last seen in summer 2018, the Pueblo Police Department announced Friday.

Around 8:37 a.m. on Jan. 20, officers were called out to the 600 block of West 6th Street after someone found a metal container filled with hardened concrete in a storage unit. Two days later, investigators located a girl’s remains inside the metal container.

In its initial press release, Pueblo PD said it was attempting to locate two children as part of its investigation — Jesus Dominguez, Jr. and Yesenia Dominguez. The children had not been seen since summer 2018 and were never reported missing.

On Jan. 31, authorities interviewed two persons of interest in the case — Jesus Dominguez, 35, and Corena Rose Minjarez, 36. Pueblo PD did not say how they are related to the children. Dominguez was arrested for an outstanding warrant.

During the interviews, investigators were told that the children may be in Phoenix, Arizona, but police did not locate them.

Pueblo detectives located Minjarez’s vehicle at a local scrapyard. Authorities executed a search warrant on the vehicle on Feb. 6 and located a suitcase containing a boy’s remains in the trunk of the vehicle.

DNA confirmed that the remains found in the metal container belonged to Yesenia and the remains found in the suitcase belonged to Jesus, Jr. Their deaths are being investigated as homicides.

Pueblo Police Department

On Thursday, Pueblo PD obtained arrest warrants for Minjarez and Dominguez, each for two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of abuse of a corpse. Dominguez faces an additional charge of theft of government benefits.

Minjaraz was arrested and booked into the Pueblo County Detention Center on a $2 million bond.

Authorities are still searching for Dominguez. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Pueblo PD at 719-553-2502.