BROCKTON, Mass., Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Massachusetts authorities said they had no suspects or motive in the slayings of a young Ecuadorian mother and child in a town 20 miles south of Boston.
The bodies of Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela, 25, and her 2-year-old son Brian were found in separate bags in a dumpster behind their Brockton apartment house, the Boston Herald reported.
Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said autopsies must first determine the cause and manner of their deaths before authorities can begin to learn what happened to them.
"We do not think this is a random act," Cruz said.
Palaguachi-Cela's common-law husband, Manuel Jesus Caguana, told The Boston Globe he returned from a construction job in Virginia late Sunday after being unable to contact his wife since Thursday.
The two bodies were discovered just hours before the trash was scheduled to be picked up Monday, neighbors said.
