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Sheriff's Office: Missing Deltona woman, children dead

DELTONA, Fla. — The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said a woman and her two young children who disappeared earlier this week are dead, but their bodies have not yet been recovered.

Yessenia Suarez and her children, 8-year-old Michael Otto and 9-year-old Thalia Otto, were considered endangered under suspicious circumstances after family members reported them missing Tuesday night.

The Sheriff's Office said the search for the victims' bodies and the investigation into their deaths is still ongoing.

Channel 9 has learned Suarez's husband, Luis Toledo, 31, was named a person of interest in the case, but authorities said no charges have been filed.

On Thursday, Yessenia Suarez's family spoke at a news conference begging for her and the children's safe return.

"Please, if anyone see my grandchildren, please, and my daughter, turn them to me, please. If anyone see my grand(children) and my daughter, please," said Suarez's mother, Felicia Perez.

Perez called the Sheriff's Office on Wednesday morning and asked for deputies to conduct a well-being check on the 28-year-old at her Covent Gardens Place home in Deltona. When Volusia sheriff's deputies responded to the Deltona address, Suarez and her children were not there.

On Thursday, investigators from Volusia County crossed jurisdictions to pull potential evidence out of a set of dumpsters in Sanford.

Family members said the last time Yessenia's family had seen her was Tuesday evening. They called her cellphone, but said it went straight to voicemail.

Authorities said one of Yessenia's two vehicles was found by Lake Mary police at a Publix parking lot, but there was no sign of her or her children.

Authorities are calling the disappearance suspicious because they said Suarez, a former worker and current student at Rollins College, had been the victim of domestic violence in Lake Mary on Tuesday.

Dozens of cars line the street where the parents of Yessenia Suarez live, just one block from an active crime scene at their daughter's home.

Everyone was offering condolences for a family mourning the loss of Suarez and her children.

"We thought maybe she'd be at a girlfriend's or something like that and that this would all be over, and I think for that family it's just now starting," neighbor Teresa O'Neil said.

Channel 9 has learned Toledo and Suarez had been talking about separating and that Toledo was angry over some text messages he found on his wife's phone.

That's when he showed up at American K-9 Detection Services, where he confronted Suarez and allegedly slapped her.

Witnesses said Toledo was calm when he left the business Tuesday. But when investigators told him over the phone that he could face charges for slapping his wife, they said Toledo got angry and hung up on them.

Suarez's family said the three went missing just hours later.

Authorities said Toledo arrived at the house a short time later and was subsequently arrested based on Lake Mary Police Department's battery charge from the previous day.

He was booked into the Volusia County Jail in Daytona Beach.

"They've been arguing for the past two weeks," Brandon Haught with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. "After a domestic violence situation, and then to be out of contact with your own family for quite a while, does raise those suspicions."

"It's really hitting hard and for me and my wife, it's been a nightmare and this nightmare hasn't ended," said Ruben Perez, Suarez's stepfather.

Reporter Karla Ray found Toledo had ties to the notorious Latin Kings gang, which is known across the country for violent crime, authorities said.

Channel 9 learned Toledo was arrested on attempted murder charges 13 years ago, but those charges were eventually dropped before he went to trial.

Toledo was accused of luring a woman to a South Orange County apartment complex near Orange Blossom Trail, where she told investigators she saw three unknown men approaching her, one carrying a baseball bat.

The woman said the men had bandanas covering their faces and that they started to beat her up while Toledo repeated, "You set me up."

The 39-year-old victim told investigators at the time she noticed a plastic bag in the back pocket of Toledo's pants. She said it was later put over her head as she was being beaten.

The victim went on to say she felt a cord wrapped around her neck and that she had to tear through the bag to breathe.

Anyone with information about Suarez and her children is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 386-736-5999.