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Orange police continue landfill search for missing boys, believed murdered by their faither

Police are searching a landfill again for the remains of two young boys they believed were killed by their father. They've moved from Brea to Irvine.
Police are searching a landfill again for the remains of two young boys they believed were killed by their father. They've moved from Brea to Irvine.
(
Ed Joyce/KPCC
)

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Orange police continue landfill search for missing boys, believed murdered by their faither

Police are searching a landfill again for the remains of two young boys they believe were killed by their father.

City of Orange investigators previously searched a Brea landfill for the bodies, but they’re now looking in Irvine.

Prosecutors charged Shazer Fernando Limas with the murders of his two sons, 1-year-old Fernando and 3-month-old Emmanuel, and their mother, 31-year-old Arlet Hernandez Contreras, in the family's Orange apartment.

Earlier this month, police found Contreras’ body in La Puente. They've been searching for the boys since then.

Orange Police Sgt. Dan Adams said trash from the apartment complex where the four lived is taken to the Brea landfill and to the Frank Bowerman Landfill in Irvine.

“Now we’re just sifting through it, going over it with the cadaver dogs," said Adams. "It’s quite a big area."

Sgt. Adams said landfill workers have spread out garbage from April 14, when detectives believe Limas killed the boys and their mother.

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“We don’t have any leads right now," acknowledged Adams. "And if the bodies were dumped in the trash, they would end up at one of these landfills, and that’s why we’re searching there.”

Authorities arrested Limas and charged him with the murders, denying him bail. He’s in an Orange County jail.

His arraignment on three murder charges is scheduled next Wednesday in Santa Ana.

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