A couple, living in the United States, have been arrested by Mexico’s border officials when they attempted to smuggle a dead body of a child from the United States to Mexico.
The couple, who had their bodies covered with tattoos, was carrying the lifeless body of the child, about two years old, in a bag, trying to cross the border from San Diego, California into the Mexican town of Tijuana on Tuesday August 11th, 2016.
They were apprehended when an ex-ray machine used to scan them, revealed the contents of the bag they were carrying. The man was taken into custody. The woman managed to escape initially, but was later captured by United States border officials with close collaboration from the Mexican officials.
The man has been identified as Johnny Lewis Hartley, 39, and the woman Mercy Mary Becerra, 43. The gender of the dead child has also been identified as a girl. Mexico’s border officials have since turned them to their United States counterparts to investigate the case. Local media managed to obtain the photos of the couple via social media. Their accounts have since been closed down.
The San Diego police have taken up the case. So far, investigators at the San Diego Police Department have said the couple lived in the city of Whittier, California. Investigators further said Hartley and Mercy have been booked on one count of murder, pending the outcome of an autopsy of the dead child.
A police official said the cause of death of the child is not known, but there was little chance that the girl had died a natural death. According to the official, the toddler was not a child of the couple, and investigators suspect that they might have murdered her, trying to smuggle the body to Mexico to sell.
Since local media broke the sad story, some residents who knew the couple have been giving more details on them. A former neighbor of the couple, Henry Munoz told ABC7 New York that Hartley was a good person, but said the family was evicted from their home after not paying their rent in the area he used to live. He confirmed the couple had children.
Munoz was quoted as saying: “He was always with his kids, taking care of his kids, and I know he was trying to look for a job. I know they had some difficult times where they couldn’t pay their bills.”
However, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, court records it obtained from Orange County showed that the couple, especially the man, had a violent criminal history.
The Tribune said in 1999, Hartley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and possessing, manufacturing or selling a deadly weapon. It is said a gang enhancement was applied to the case, suggesting he was a gang member or a gang associate. He was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison.
Again, six years later, in 2005, Hartley was convicted of possessing drugs with the intent to sell them and possessing drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to 2 years, 8 months in prison.
Further, in 2010, Hartley pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm with a gang enhancement. But a number of other charges were dismissed in this case, including attempted murder and assault with a firearm. He received three years in a state prison.
For Mercy, her criminal history is said to be minimal. She pleaded guilty in 1992, when she was 19 years old to a felony of selling or transporting a controlled substance. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with three years probation. She was also charged with a number of vehicle-related infractions and misdemeanors between 1995 and 2011.
The San Diego police homicide unit is appealing to anybody with information relating to the toddler’s death to volunteer, and call (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 to speed up the investigation into the case.
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