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The discovery of the body of a Queens woman believed missing by police raises questions about the faulty investigation. NY1’s Elizabeth Kaledin filed the following report.
To the family of Reyna Isabel De Los Santos, a Queens woman once believed by police to be missing, the recovery of her body in Forest Park brings some closure to a nine-month mystery.
“It's a chapter we are closing,” said Democratic City Councilman Hiram Monserrate on Friday, translating a family member of De Los Santos.
De Los Santos went missing last June and from the beginning, family members knew something was wrong. The 42-year-old mother had children she would never abandon, including an autistic son who requires constant care.
Then last week, two children playing in Forest Park found bones in a suitcase. On Tuesday, the Medical Examiner's office said dental records showed the remains belonged to De Los Santos.
“In the face of so much sorrow and pain, she now believes that we are on the road towards some peace,” translated Monserrate.
Now, De Los Santos’s family and community activists want answers from police.
“The police kept saying she left. And we said no way,” said Enrique Lugo of the Corona National Community Center.
Montserrate said members of the media told him that they heard the same thing from police – that contact was made with De Los Santos in July, and that she had left home because of her domestic situation.
“That's a concern and I would ask the police commissioner to investigate that,” said Montserrate.
In response, a police spokesman said "contrary to statements Friday, detectives seriously investigated the reported disappearance… from the outset."
The spokesman said police had located and interviewed two independent witnesses who claimed to have seen De Los Santos several weeks after she went missing.
Now, sources say police are questioning Edwin Fuentes, the husband of De Los Santos, about the circumstances of her death.
- Elizabeth Kaledin
6 years ago
