The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA – The Camden, N.J., police search for three boys who died in a car trunk last month came under renewed scrutiny Tuesday after a disclosure by the county prosecutor’s office that the children lived for an estimated 13 – and possibly even 33 – hours after they disappeared.

More than 150 law enforcement officers scoured Camden’s Cramer Hill neighborhood by land, water and air, but overlooked the trunk of a broken-down car in the backyard where the boys had been playing.

At a minimum, Anibal “Juni” Cruz, 11; Daniel “Danny” Agosto, 6, and Jesstin “Manny” Pagan, 5, were still living as the police search began on the evening of June 22 and continued into the night, Camden County Medical Examiner Paul J. Hoyer has concluded.

By his estimate, the boys lived at least 10 hours into the police search.

Hoyer estimated that the boys died between 6:30 a.m. on June 23 and 2:30 a.m. on June 24, according to a statement released by the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

“They could have been saved,” said Iraida Agosto, the mother of Danny Agosto. “They had time. My baby would have been here now. … It’s hard for me to swallow.”

“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Peter M. Villari, a Conshohocken, Pa., lawyer who represents Anibal’s mother, Elba Cruz. The autopsy report, Villari said, “places the time of death well within the time when the police had taken over the investigation.”

Villari said a detective has told the Cruz family that it appeared that the children had entered the trunk by folding down the rear seat of the car, contrary to a police theory that they had opened the trunk and climbed in from the outside.

Another source familiar with the case said that detectives came to the conclusion about entry through the backseat after thoroughly examining the car, its surroundings and officers’ reports. The source noted, for example, that several items typically found in a trunk were discovered in the backseat as if they been cleared out, but stressed that these conclusions were not definitive.

Also Tuesday, a police union said it was telling its members not to cooperate with a three-member panel set up by Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi unless they get grants of immunity.

Separately, the union is also concerned that the panel includes two high-ranking law enforcement officials who were involved in the search, which the unions say is unacceptable.

“It’s like investigating yourself for something,” said Bill Murray, president of the Camden Organization of Police Superiors.

The panel’s report is expected Monday.

Police have yet to give an official explanation of why the trunk was not searched, though another union official has said officers were sidetracked when a relative said the children had been spotted at a nearby pizza restaurant.

Chief Edwin Figueroa on Tuesday would not comment on the latest findings, which give new ammunition to the department’s critics.

Villari said that police had methodically searched the Cruz house, and after each area they would say “clear.”

“They said: “Car clear.’ The mother remembers that word as if it’s burned into her memory,” Villari said.

He said Elba Cruz had no idea that the trunk could be entered from the backseat. The trunk was locked, with its keys kept inside her house, Villari said.

“She also remembers being told: “Do not go near the car, stay out of the yard. It’s a potential crime scene.’ At that point, the whole neighborhood focused their attention on spreading the (search) grid away from the house.”

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Michael Baden, the nationally known chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, said in earlier comments on the case that the boys could have survived for only about three hours before they ran out of air.

“I would assume they have a good reason to say that, but I don’t see the reason,” Baden said of the 13-hour estimate. “If there was a good source of air coming in, sure, they can live longer. But then you’d wonder: Why aren’t they making more noise so people could find them?”

Mario Rivera, Cruz’s uncle, said Tuesday a possible source of ventilation was a broken taillight on the Camry.

Cyril H. Wecht, the coroner of Allegheny County, said he thought the boys could have lasted 10 to 12 hours without suffering permanent brain damage, and that fatigue and rain could have stifled any sound.

“Especially with a somewhat older car, that trunk was not a hermetically sealed vacuum. A little bit of air would be getting in,” said Wecht, the past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Wecht said the autopsy most likely studied the boys’ lung and brain tissues and found changes that would not have occurred had the boys died more quickly.

Hoyer’s office said he was told not to comment Tuesday, but the county prosecutor’s statement said he based the time estimate on the autopsy and on “local environmental conditions” such as temperature. The National Weather Service has said it was 80 degrees at 5 p.m. and 70 degrees at 6 p.m. on June 22, with rain and scattered thunderstorms.

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Still, East Camden resident Carmen Vega points to last July, when her two girls, now 7 and 6, were stuck in a trunk for possibly nine hours and were pulled out alive.

It was around 3 p.m. when Xiamara and Kristalee Aponte were playing a game inside Vega’s car when they climbed in the trunk and were surprised when it locked shut. They banged with their hands and feet.

Around 6 p.m., Vega, 33, noticed they were missing and began a search. Around midnight, a neighbor heard noises from the trunk and opened it, Vega said. Kristalee had fainted, and Xiamara was barely conscious, but both lived. It could not be learned yesterday whether city police were involved in that search.

The news that the three boys were alive during the search shocked the families and the area of Cramer Hill, where residents had mobilized in a dramatic show of unity to look for the boys. Villari, Elba Cruz’s attorney, said she “is just completely numb again. She is just shut down again.”

However, he added that the family appreciated the prosecutor’s sensitivity and would wait until the report is released before deciding whether to sue.

Meanwhile, City Council President Angel Fuentes announced Tuesday that a fund for the families had raised more than $43,000 – including corporate donations, money from children, and checks from as far away as California. The money will be split equally among the three families.

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(Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondent John Shiffman contributed to this report.)

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(c) 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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AP-NY-07-19-05 2223EDT

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