FREDERICK, Md., March 27, 2007
Father, 4 Kids Found Dead In Md. Home
Police Search For Missing Mother, Who Hasn't Been At Work For More Than A Week
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Police officials prepare to remove the bodies of a man and four children who were found dead in their home, Frederick, Maryland, March 26, 2007 (AP)
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Police searching for Daysi Benitez, seen here in an undated snapshot, want to know if she has been harmed and whether she has any information on the deaths of her husband and four children. (AP)
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Police say Pedro Rodriguez, 28, was found hanging by a nylon rope from a second-floor bannister. Lt. Thomas Chase says the children - girls ages 9, 4 and 1, and a 3-year-old boy - were found in bed under the covers.
Police were looking for the mother, Daysi M. Benitez, 25, who neighbors said also lived at the home.
Chase said Benitez had not shown up for work at a local restaurant for a week and a half. "The mom's being sought so we can verify her welfare and find out what she can tell us," Chase said.
Chase said police do not have any suspects in the deaths of the children. When asked if they believe the father was suspected, he said that was a theory they were pursuing.
The bodies were discovered after a Hillcrest Elementary School community liaison concerned about some of the children called police, authorities said. Officers entered through an unlocked ground-floor window Monday afternoon and found the bodies in different rooms of the three-bedroom home.
Jose Lopez, 34, said he rented a room there for two months a year and a half ago. When he lived with them, the couple seemed happy, he said.
Real estate records show Rodriguez and Benitez bought the home in August 2005 for $195,900.
The family had emigrated from El Salvador to the United States, police said.
Autopsies on the father and the children were to be performed Tuesday in Baltimore.
Police had been called there three or four times in the past six months, neighbor Nathaniel Harris said.
"Everyone in the neighborhood is shocked," Harris said. "This is a nice area."
Another neighbor, Rebecca Reckley, said the father worked at the Toys R Us warehouse in Frederick and the mother worked at Outback Steakhouse. The mother worked nights and the father worked days, she said.
"He just seemed like an awfully nice man," she said. "He just seemed to really care about his children, so you can't fathom something like this would happen."
Managers at Outback and Toys R Us had no comment.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 43 CommentsMaybe Queen Nancy Pelosi and the democrats will pass a non-binding resolution urging Bush to get out of Maryland.
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Posted by processor2 at 03:30 PM : Mar 27, 2007
That would be a great start....then we would only have 49 states to go...bet we can get it done by election day!!
What an idiotic statement!
Posted by Mom36330 at 12:26 PM : Mar 27, 2007
Blame god??? Just goes to show what you know in making such a statement....We are NOT lving in God's world...Satan and his dark angels run rampant...and man makes his own choices as to which road he takes in life. God will not force himself on anyone. He gave us a free will and will not interfere. God holds the keys to hell but one day He will cast Satan into hell and lock him away.
So don't blame God for the evil and the pain in this world. Your ilk rears their ugly head at every opportunity...especially when we see man at his most evil and shameful...and you try to blame God. Heck, many of you want to blame him for bad weather! Wrong again! As a matter of fact, you are wrong on all points...
Posted by Mom36330 at 12:26 PM : Mar 27, 2007
Why do we have to defend our christianity to anyone when the other religions of the world are accepted if only by political correctness in this nation?
Not that you need to know, but "our God" was taking the hands of those children into His and sheltering them from more harm. If you had studied or read anything into God or the Bible, it is that God gave humans a wonderful gift and that was free will. He has a plan for us, but it is up to us to choose what to do with our lives. Those who kill are obviously not choosing the path that was set for them, but God will pick up the lives that were hurt or crushed in that person's fall from humanity and will hold them tight and keep them safe from now on. That is where "our God" is. Where was your faith when those children were killed?
Why are people SO quick to judge and blame? No one is any more "perfect" than anyone else, and those of you who "think" (yeah, right, that's a good one) you are, are even less so.
My heart and prayers go out to this family's friends and relatives.
Posted by Mom36330 at 12:26 PM : Mar 27, 2007
God was most likely at the same place when his son was being killed. God did not kill those kids Mom, man did and I would be willing to bet it was someone with no believe or faith in God.
I bet mom is dead too. Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. It's very sad. All these young lives gone. Children should not die by the hands of their own parents or anyone elses!! SAD, SAD, SAD!
To some of the simple minded posts before me:
A mind is like a parachute, It only functions well when OPEN!!
Am I to understand that only the super rich are entitled to loans? Only the super rich are allowed to buy homes?
Are all of you, who are questioning this family's legal right to pursue the american dream, jealous? Jealous because you've never worked hard & sacrificed, & you hate it when others do because it makes you look like the lazy putzes you are?
Is it because you have worked hard & sacrificed, but hate it when others copy you, because you thought of the concept of home ownership first?
Or is it because you've never worked hard, wouldn't know sacrifice if it smacked you on the head & you hate it when pedro, the broken-backed landscaper & maria, his raw-knuckled-from-house-cleaning wife, save their money & buy a themselves a house rather than give the money to you?
***?! Anyone in this country, especially with a job, can get a mortgage, a loan, a habitat house. People save, cash in insurance policies, inherit money all the time. People buy foreclosures. I had a friend who put a downpayment on her house from a lottery winning.
Maybe Queen Nancy Pelosi and the democrats will pass a non-binding resolution urging Bush to get out of Maryland.
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As for the house and the jobs, all you need is spotless credit, I just bought a house, two weeks before I was hired at my present job, or be from south america, and you will get any loan for anything, remember, the banks are hoping you'll miss a payment or two, they get more on penalties.
In my neighbourhood, we've got a few of those "Nosey Parker" types. The police showed up one night because our next door neighbour called to say our truck was blocking his driveway. When the cops arrived the truth came out: Our car was parked in our own driveway, but his complaint was that it was blocking his "view". (He told the cops that he thought that if we wanted such a big car -a sedan- that we should park in it the garage so he wouldn't have to look at it). Another time the police were called about our "wild drunken party" which, as the cops discovered upon arrival, was a saturday afternoon cookout/baby shower with 8 friends, soft drinks & toddlers splashing in a wading pool that Mr. Nosey wasn't invited to (surprise). Another time the cops came because I was taking pictures of storm damage to our fence in the side yard- neighbour reported that I was spying on him & "acting like papparazzi".
The point here is that, it becomes public record that the police are called to a home. In our case, it's because of some nut case neighbours. But, if something weird ever did happen (like I finally crack & strangle the neighbours), the news report would be that "the police were called to the house at least once a month for the past 2 years..."
Believe me when I say: "Poor people are just rich people with no money!"
A normal person knows how to depend on themselves!
Regardless of what some postes may say, in cases like this, I need to pray that God will guide the officers as they untangle all this mess & assist them as they track clues & hopefully lead them to the mother.
It breaks my heart to think what those little ones went thru. What has taken place in the United States over the past 50 years? Crimes against children, murder in general seems so common place now. Is it the drugs? The folks crossing borders illegally & bringing gangs here? Folks living together having kids without marriage. Things have really changedsince the 50's & say what you may, its not been changes for the better!
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