The remains of a supermarket worker, who went missing 10 years ago, have been found in a gap between a freezer and a wall at the store he worked.
Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada, an employee at the No Frills Supermarket in Council Bluffs, Iowa, disappeared on November 28, 2009.
The missing report of the then 25-year-old was filed by his parents when he left home after an argument during a snowstorm.
Larry never returned that day and no one knew what became of him.
Ever since then the police could not get even a single lead about him and the case remained in the bottom shelves of the police files for about a decade.
That was until the remains of the missing person were found in the most unexpected place.
Larry’s remains were found when a team of contractors was dismantling the supermarket, three years after its shutdown.
As they started removing the freezer unit, they found a body present in an 18-inch gap between a wall and a freezer.
According to the cops, the body had been in that place for quite some time.
Brandon Danielson, a sergeant in the Council Bluffs Police Department, told the Des Moines Register that when he heard of the body being found, missing Larry immediately popped up into his mind.
The samples from the remains were sent for DNA tests which have recently confirmed that they actually belong to Larry Murillo-Moncada.
It was confirmed after the DNA from the remains matched the DNA of Larry’s parents.
The autopsy report indicates that there were no signs of trauma, so Larry’s death can’t be counted as murder. The police believe that Larry died of an accident.
According to the investigation report, Larry went to the store and climbed on top of the freezer unit, but somehow fell into the 12-foot deep gap between the freezer and the wall, getting trapped in the place.
The police were told by the former employees that climbing on top of the freezer units was common among the workers as the space was often utilized for storage.
Danielson believes that the sound of the freezer unit muffled the cries for help that Larry might have let out.
The sergeant said: “It’s so loud there’s probably no way anyone heard him.”
There have been reports of a foul smell coming from the supermarket, as complained by a number of shoppers who used to visit the store when it was functional.
The police have now officially closed the case.