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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- "5 Dead in Maryland"
Maybe Queen Nancy Pelosi and the democrats will pass a non-binding resolution urging Bush to get out of Maryland.
...
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! - Reply to this comment
- yeah send your prayers out alright...where was your god when someone was killing those kids?
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... - Reply to this comment
- yeah send your prayers out alright...where was your god when someone was killing those kids?
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? - Reply to this comment
- If any one reads the Bible they would know that God said that things would happen and so much worse. Before Jesus comes back. Please Please Take time to find that personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
- Reply to this comment
- knyghtwolf, sounds more like your name should be NIGHTMARE. Christians aren't a infection.That would be considered a pain in the rear. That would be you. You do not have the mentality to carry on a civil conversation, nor do you have the ability to even make sense. Your comment is childish, disgusting and boring. Get a life and an education, then get on this forum
- Reply to this comment
- Why do people blame God when things like this happen? Someone killed these kids out of their own free will, the only thing God gave us that he doesn't interfere with.He gave us a mind to make our own choices. Why blame Him when someone makes a bad choice? Besides where does satan fit into this? Sounds to me like it was his doing,not God.But people who have no idea who God is or what he is about, would blame him. If the Court System was more harsh on killers there would be less things like this happening.Look at Susan Smith. Any sicko can kill their children and get away with it.
- Reply to this comment
- There's as yet NO evidence that the father, himself, committed this sad acts then hanged himself. Perhaps he came home and discovered them himself, and in his own grief hanged himself. Perhaps it was an intruder, or inturders, that did this and then kidnapped the wife/mom.
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. - Reply to this comment
- he has killed his wife, then the kiddies, then he hung himself. sick weirdo.
- Reply to this comment
- yeah send your prayers out alright...where was your god when someone was killing those kids?
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. - Reply to this comment
- The kids are dead, the dad is dead by hanging,...
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!! - Reply to this comment
