Camden Pain Lingers 1 Year After Trunk Tragedy

BY DEREK ROSE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

CAMDEN, N.J. – The three wooden angels affixed to the metal fence are the only signs that this isn’t just any yard overrun with garbage and long grass.

But neighbors said the suffocation deaths of three young boys in a car trunk there a year ago is never far from their minds.

“It’s a constant reminder, living right here,” said neighbor Steve Bullock, 36, a mechanic. “People don’t talk about it out loud, but I’m sure they still think about it.”

When Anibal Cruz, 11; Daniel Agosto, 6, and Jesstin Pagan, 5, disappeared, it prompted a massive search. Two days later, they were found dead in the trunk of a banged-up car in Cruz’s yard, just steps from their families and authorities.

Heartbreakingly, an autopsy revealed they had lived for some 13 to 33 hours while the search was conducted around them.

Cruz’s mother, Elba, is coping with the upcoming anniversary of her son’s death as best she can, said her lawyer, Paul Brandes.

“Obviously, this is a very trying time for her,” he said. “It’s not even in the back of her mind, it’s always in the forefront. She’s just trying her best to put one foot in front of the other, to keep on keeping on.”

The Cruz family moved away from the Bergen Ave. home where the children suffocated six months ago, Brandes said.

“She just couldn’t live there.”

The house appears vacant and abandoned. At Daniel Agosto’s family home up the street, his parents declined to answer the door.

Elba Cruz is suing the city of Camden for bungling the search, alleging her son’s death was directly caused by the police department failing to meet its “everyday duties and responsibilities.”

“The death of Anibal Cruz Jr. was directly … caused by breaches of applicable laws, rules [and] regulations,” reads the lawsuit filed in federal court in March.

Bill Sharlow, public information officer for the county prosecutor’s office, which oversees the police department, said he couldn’t discuss the case.

He noted, however, that since the deaths, the prosecutor’s office has co-sponsored additional missing children training for law enforcement and urged police chiefs to adopt new child search policies.

The prosecutor’s office also sponsored a poster contest for elementary schools on the dangers of playing in parked cars. Nearly 1,000 students submitted entries.

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