By Adam Fifield and Kera Ritter,The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA – The last time some neighbors saw Anibal Cruz, he was spraying two friends with a hose in the front yard of his family’s house in the Cramer Hill section of Camden, N.J.

Later Wednesday, no one noticed when the three playmates climbed into the trunk of a broken-down 1992 Toyota Camry parked in a shaded patch of weeds nearby, police said. The lid then slammed shut because a hydraulic plunger that keeps the trunk from closing was broken.

Two days later, one of the boys’ uncles who had driven from Patterson, N.J., to help look for them, wanted to see if there were any jumper cables in the Camry’s trunk. David Agosto lifted the lid.

Inside, he found his son, Daniel “Danny” Agosto, 6, Anibal “Juni” Cruz, 11, and Jesstin “Manny” Pagan, 5. On Saturday, police said the boys died of accidental suffocation a few yards from where relatives saw them around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. There was no evidence of foul play, authorities said.

The tragic discovery was made after a massive two-day search that involved more than 150 law enforcement officers and dozens of neighbors and spanned two states. In a case that has gained national attention and shaken this quiet, mostly Latino community, there are still many unanswered questions.

“There were hundreds of people in the area,” Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said yesterday. “Not to hear a sound, not to hear any noise from these children – these are questions we’ve asked ourselves.”

A panel has been formed to review of the actions of police, Sarubbi said. It will release findings in 30 days.

Saturday, neighbors wanted to know why the Camry’s trunk was apparently not searched by police.

“There is a frustration among the neighbors,” said Carmen Villa, 37, who used to baby-sit for Daniel Agosto. “I thought they were doing their job. I assumed they checked the car and the trunk.”

The saga began about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Elba Cruz, Anibal’s mother, said the boys were playing in Cruz’s yard on Bergen Avenue. Daniel’s family lives on the same block; Jesstin was visiting from Mount Ephraim.

“I went in for five or 10 minutes to check on the food,” Cruz has said. “I came back outside, and they weren’t there. We just started looking all over the place.”

Police received a call at 8:24 p.m. about the missing boys. When officers arrived a few minutes later, they searched the car but “apparently the trunk was not looked into,” Camden Police Chief Edwin Figueroa said Saturday.

The Camry, owned by Anibal Cruz’s maternal grandmother, had been parked on the lawn for about three weeks. It was not operating properly because of a problem with the brakes, authorities said.

Sarubbi declined to say whether there was evidence that the boys tried to get out of the trunk. Authorities said the boys had been in the trunk since their disappearance on Wednesday but that the time of death was undetermined. A bag of powdered cement was also discovered in the trunk.

According to the National Weather Service, it was 80 degrees at 5 p.m. and 70 degrees at 6 p.m. Wednesday, with rain and scattered thunderstorms that may have muffled any noise from the boys trapped inside the trunk of a car.

Maggy Ortiz, Daniel Agosto’s cousin, walked along Bergen Street on Saturday, collecting donations for the boys’ funerals.

“We’re all hurting right now,” Ortiz said. “It’s something we didn’t expect. We were holding out faith that we were going to find them alive, not the way we found them.”

Neighbors had fashioned a memorial of flowers, balloons and stuffed animals in front of the yard from which the trio had disappeared. Teddy bears sat in three fold-out chairs that stood forlornly near the stoop of the Cruz’s gray stucco house.

A sheet draped over a chain link fence with a message in magic marker: “In loving memory of Daniel, 6, Jesstin, 5, and Anibal, 11.” Someone had scrawled on the side: “Bye, Gonna miss you.”

Cruz family friend Emanuel Arce, 21, knelt down to write the words “I Love You” next to a photo of Anibal that been affixed to the sheet.

“I feel the whole neighborhood is suffering,” Arce said. “These kids … they didn’t deserve this. They were always happy. They were always running around.”

Anibal, who was described by neighbors and relatives as active and curious, had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, his mother had said.

Police searched on land, water and in the air on both sides of the Delaware River for the boys, whose mothers had appealed for the return of their sons Friday at police headquarters. Officials had also announced a $9,000 reward for help finding them.

“They could have been alive if they found them sooner,” Anibal’s uncle, Mario Rivera said Saturday. “There are questions that need to be answered. Why weren’t the cops in that trunk?”

Rivera had conducted his own two-day, sleepless search, checking vacant lots, abandoned houses, wooded areas and railroad tracks.

“It’s real sad,” Rivera said. “They were right there. You know what I’m saying?”

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