Body in cooler may be 8-mo. old Miguel Angel Nunez Amarillo, TX (ID'd)

[Nut44x4]

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Amarillo police may have a break in a missing persons case we told you about last week.

Back in 2004, 8-month old Miguel Angel Nunez was left in the custody of his father while his mother was incarcerated for a misdemeanor offense.

Once she was released, she returned home to find her husband but no child, and ever since then Miguel has been missing.

Earlier this week, police responded to a call of an ice chest found in an attic with suspicious contents. It was discovered in the same house MIguel was living in when he was first reported missing.

Police determined it was the body of a young boy inside the chest and believe it to be Miguel.

Overnight, police were able to locate their main suspect, believed to be the boy's father, Robert Sanchez Nunez, but police will not confirm that at this time. That suspect is currently in custody and polcie are questioning him.

Autopsy results have been inconclusive so far and the body has been sent off to the Univiersity of North Texas for DNA comparisions.

Tune in tonight on ProNews 7 at 5, 6, and 10 for more information.
http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?list=195065&id=486338

[Nut44x4]

This is so disgusting, it even makes me puke......

Tenants find mummified infant in their Texas attic

The Associated Press
Friday, July 23, 2010; 11:17 AM



AMARILLO, Texas -- Police say an infant boy's mummified body has been found stuffed in an ice chest stored in the attic of a Texas Panhandle home.

Amarillo Police Lt. Gary Trupe says renters of the house were installing a ceiling fan when they discovered the body in a small, tightly sealed plastic ice chest on Monday.

Authorities estimate the boy's age at 3 months to 1 year and that his body was in the attic five or six years.

The Amarillo Globe-News reports Friday that police are questioning a man in connection with the case.

Officers suspect the boy was Miguel Nunez, born in 2003 and missing since 2004. Nunez' family lived in the house about the time he disappeared.

A preliminary autopsy failed to identify the body and cause of death. DNA and other tests will be done.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/23/AR2010072302650_pf.html

[mymonkey]

This is so disgusting, it even makes me puke......

Tenants find mummified infant in their Texas attic

The Associated Press
Friday, July 23, 2010; 11:17 AM



AMARILLO, Texas -- Police say an infant boy's mummified body has been found stuffed in an ice chest stored in the attic of a Texas Panhandle home.

Amarillo Police Lt. Gary Trupe says renters of the house were installing a ceiling fan when they discovered the body in a small, tightly sealed plastic ice chest on Monday.

Authorities estimate the boy's age at 3 months to 1 year and that his body was in the attic five or six years.

The Amarillo Globe-News reports Friday that police are questioning a man in connection with the case.

Officers suspect the boy was Miguel Nunez, born in 2003 and missing since 2004. Nunez' family lived in the house about the time he disappeared.

A preliminary autopsy failed to identify the body and cause of death. DNA and other tests will be done.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/23/AR2010072302650_pf.html

[cookie]

sick..totally sick...
where did the dad say that the baby was all these years? didn't the mom pursue it at all??? strange and sad all at the same time..

[Nut44x4]

Web-posted Saturday, July 24, 2010
Father admits hiding body
Cause of death still a mystery

Police now know how an infant's body ended up in an ice chest in the attic of an Amarillo home, thanks to the alleged confession of the boy's father.
Robert Sanchez Nunez, 36, told a detective Miguel Nunez died in 2004 while in his care, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday. The father also said he put the body in the attic of the home in the 1600 block of North Seminole Street, a neighborhood of tidy, modest homes in the northeast part of the city.

The father and son lived in the house at the time of Miguel's death.

The 47th District Attorney's Office has charged Robert Nunez, 36, with aggravated perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury.

An arrest warrant recommends a bond of $100,000 for the third-degree felony.

But investigators continue working the suspicious death case.

"Robert Nunez is the only suspect in this case and additional charges may be presented as the investigation proceeds," according to an Amarillo Police Department news release.

The residents of the rental house on Seminole found a tightly sealed plastic ice chest in their attic on Monday while installing a ceiling fan. Upon starting to open the chest, a strong odor prompted them to call police.

About 1:20 p.m., police discovered the body of an unidentified boy less than 1 year old inside the chest.

Miguel Nunez's mother, Brenda Wheeler, told police the boy was about 8 months old at the time of his disappearance in April 2004, according to the complaint.

Police located Robert Nunez in Borger Wednesday night where local law enforcement agents arrested him. He faces charges there of resisting arrest and failure to identify himself as a fugitive, according to Hutchinson County Sheriff's Department records.

Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit detectives questioned him in Borger, where he contradicted his previous testimony to a Potter County grand jury on April 21 that Miguel was still alive, according to the complaint. That resulted in the perjury charge.

The grand jury was investigating whether Robert Nunez interfered with child custody and kidnapping. The boy's mother was in the Potter County Detention Center at the time of his disappearance but later won custody of Miguel, according to Friday's complaint.

"The defendant knew at the time of his statement under oath that Miguel Nunez was deceased," according to an arrest warrant for the father.

Police believe the ice chest in which the body was found wrapped in a plastic bag had been hidden in the attic for five to six years, said Lt. Gary Trupe, head of the Special Crimes Unit.

An autopsy performed Tuesday was inconclusive.

Police are sending the well-preserved body to the University of North Texas for DNA testing to confirm its identity and for testing by an anthropologist to try to identify the cause of death, Trupe said. That process could take at least four weeks.

The father had maintained through the years he had given the boy to an unknown couple or family members, according to the court filing. At one point he told Wheeler that Miguel was in Mexico.

"The defendant even stated to his probation officer that he had driven to El Paso and that he was going to pick up Miguel Nunez to return him to his mother," the filing states.

http://www.amarillo.com/stories/072410/new_news2.shtml

[Nut44x4]

Infant's remains found in cooler identified
Posted: 12.13.2010 at 11:06 AM

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- The remains of an infant found in a cooler back in July have been identified. The University of North Texas ran the DNA test on the human remains and found that they are in fact those of Miguel Angel Nunez.

On July 19, police were called to a home in the 1600 block of N. Seminole. Officers found an ice chest in the attic containing the human remains of a small child. The home that the ice chest was found in was the home that little Miguel's father lived in at the time of the boy's disappearance.

On July 23, Special Crimes Unit detectives interviewed the father Robert Nunez. According to the official complaint Robert Nunez said his baby son Miguel died while in his care, and he placed the body in a cooler.

That statement was in a complaint of perjury against Nunez, but it does not say that he confessed to killing his son. Nunez was charged of aggravated perjury by the Potter County District Attorney's office at that time. The father is the only suspect in this case and additional charges may be presented as the investigation proceeds.

The case is still being actively investigated and anyone with information is asked to call the Special Crimes Unit at 378-9468.
http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?list=195065&id=553823

[Nut44x4]

  

[MuffyBee]

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2010-12-21/jury-indicts-father-perjury-charge-lying-about-son
Jury indicts father on perjury charge, lying about son
December 21, 2010

Robert Sanchez Nunez Provided Photo

A Potter County grand jury has indicted a 36-year-old Amarillo man on aggravated perjury charge, accused of lying about the whereabouts of his missing son, whose body was found in an attic last summer.

Robert Sanchez Nunez, 36, is accused of a third-degree felony, aggravated perjury, for lying to a Potter County grand jury on April 21, when he testified that his son was still alive and living in Mexico, according to an indictment released Monday.

In July, people living in a rental house in the 1600 block of North Seminole Street found a tightly sealed plastic ice chest in their attic while installing a ceiling fan.

When they started to open the chest, a strong odor prompted them to call police.

Officers found Miguel Nunez's remains inside. Police said he was about 8 months old when he disappeared in April 2004.

The indictment said Robert Nunez "had himself concealed the body of Miguel Nunez in a container in the attic of the residence in which the defendant was residing at the time of the child's death."

Nunez remained in the Potter County Detention Center Monday on $100,000 bond.

[Nut44x4]

He has a previous criminal history......

snipped
http://amarillo.com/stories/032106/doc_doc5.shtml
108TH DISTRICT

Potter County District Courts
Posted: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
ROBERT SANCHEZ NUNEZ. Judgment. Assault causing bodily injury to family member, enhanced. Punishment assessed 80 days in Potter County Detention Center and costs.

Potter County District Courts
Docket
Posted: Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Robert Sanchez Nunez. Judgment. Failure to identify, Class A. Punishment assessed 60 days in Potter County Detention Center, $150 fine and costs.

Potter County District Courts
Posted: Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Robert Sanchez Nunez. Judgment. Bigamy, Class A. Punishment assessed 75 days in Potter County Detention Center, $300 fine and costs.
 ::snipping2::
http://amarillo.com/stories/122204/doc_countydistrict.shtml


snipped
http://amarillo.com/stories/072005/doc_pcdistrict.shtml

Probably a lot more. Just happened to come across these today

[Nut44x4]

oh, here is one........

Potter County District Courts
Posted: Tuesday, January 30, 2007
http://amarillo.com/stories/013007/doc_doc4.shtml

 ::snipping2::

Robert Sanchez Nunez. Judgment. Assault. Punishment assessed four years adult probation, $1,500 fine and costs. No contact with complainant.

[Sister]

It would be interesting to know if there was a written report from the anthropologist as to the cause of death.