Arizona parents charged with murder after daughter’s remains found

Ana Loera was last seen in 2017 – but a horrific find inside the family home has prompted police to charge her parents. WARNING: Distressing

WARNING: Distressing.

The adoptive parents of a missing girl in the US have been charged with murder after her remains were discovered in a burnt-out attic following a house fire.

Ana Loera was last seen in 2017 when she was 10 years old.

But in January 2020, when police responded to a fire at the Loera home in Phoenix, Arizona, they made a gruesome discovery – human bones were found in the attic, believed to belong to Ana.

Ana’s adoptive parents Maribel Loera, 51, and Rafael Loera, 57, had already been charged back in January 2020 with arson, child abuse, concealing a dead body and endangerment, ABC15 reported.

But on Friday, the pair were also charged with Ana’s murder.

Alleged abuse which led to the discovery

The investigation into the Loeras began in January last year when police officers performed a welfare check on an 11-year-old girl left alone at the residence.

Police said the girl claimed she had been neglected and abused by her adoptive parents, Rafael and Maribel Loera. She alleged Ms Loera had struck her on multiple occasions with knotted extension cords and slammed her head into walls.

The girl, as well as two other adopted children – a boy aged 4 and girl aged 9 – were taken into care, with police saying they found the property in “disarray” and human faeces on the floor.

But soon after the children were removed from the house, reports came through of a fire at the residence.

Fire crews responding “observed what they perceived to be human bones which came from the ceiling, resting on top of the attic insulation,” police paperwork says.

RELATED: Heartbreak after grandmother killed by dogs

Maribel Loera, 51, and Rafael Loera, 57, have been charged with the murder of their daughter Ana Loera. Picture: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office

Ana’s 2017 disappearance

Police say Mr Loera told them that Ana became ill in July 2017 and that he waited several days before trying to seek medical attention.

A police report stated Mr Loera told officers the child died on the way to the hospital and he didn’t report her death out of fear that their other adopted children would be taken away.

RELATED: Mum jailed after sharing explicit snap

Ana’s remains were found inside the home last week. Picture: Facebook

The medical examiner determined her death to be a homicide.

On January 28, after the two younger children were taken from the home, Mr Loera said he felt “hopeless”, allegedly telling police he took Ana’s body from the attic where they’d kept it, poured gasoline around the fireplace, and tried to burn the house down.

A police report said that the 11-year-old girl who was removed from the house had “numerous abrasions, scars, healed burn scars, injuries to her back, buttocks, abdomen and chin,” and that the four-year-old boy had injuries in various stages of healing over his entire body.

The report said he also had cuts and abrasions on his face and “loop marks on his legs, injuries too numerous to count,” according to CBS5.

Both Mr and Ms Loera now face charges of murder, child abuse, concealment of a dead body and arson.

This story first appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission