Slain Orange County mother's 2 young boys missing, feared dead

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Tags:

traffic delay, standoff, pursuit, orange county news

By Darsha Philips and Amy Powell

ORANGE, Calif. (KABC) -- The body of a missing Orange County mother has been found, but her two young boys are still missing and police believe they were also killed.

During their search for Arlet Hernandez Contreras, detectives called several coroner offices to see if they had any unidentified female bodies. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office confirmed they had a body fitting investigators' description of Hernandez Contreras. County workers had found the body April 25 on a sidewalk in La Puente. Coroner's officials said the cause of death appeared to be from stab wounds.

The body was positively identified as Hernandez Contreras Friday night.

"The mom is devastated, very devastated. She's still in denial. She doesn't want to believe that." said Nader Kazerooni, a family friend.

Authorities first became concerned about Hernandez Contreras and her children on May 3 when blood was found in the apartment where they lived on Chapman Avenue in Orange. Police located the father of the children, Hernandez Contreras's boyfriend Shazer Limas, who also lived in the same apartment.

Limas led police on a pursuit when officers tried to pull him over on Thursday. Limas was eventually arrested in the deaths of Hernandez Contreras and her children, a 2-year-old and a 4-month-old.

Detectives said they found blood on the carpet of Limas' apartment, which indicates the victims were likely killed about three weeks ago and the bodies were dumped elsewhere.

"He has not given us any information. We have spoken to him, he has been cooperative with our investigators, but we still do not have any information or any leads where the children might be," said Sgt. Dan Adams with Orange police.

A neighbor says she smelled a foul odor coming from a trash bin in the complex where the boys lived.