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Simulation shows how man was found after his body was stuck behind supermarket fridge for 10 years
A disturbing simulation has revealed how the body of a man discovered inside an abandoned supermarket was found 10 years after he was reported missing.
Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada was a supermarket employee when he went missing in 2009, with his disappearance baffling his family for years, before a gruesome discovery was uncovered in the exact store he had been working in.
Gruesome findings reveal truth behind man's disappearance
In January 2019, contractors working inside a former No Frills supermarket in Council Bluffs, Iowa, were left horrified while dismantling the building's empty shelving and refrigeration units when they found a human body behind the coolers that had seemingly gone unnoticed for years.
Initially, authorities were unable to establish the person's identity, age or even sex. The remains were sent to the Iowa State Medical Examiner's Office for further examination, eventually revealing that they belonged to Murillo-Moncada, who had been reported missing in 2009.
His parents had last seen him departing their home without shoes, socks, keys or a car, leaving them with little indication of where he might have gone.
In the days leading up to his disappearance, he had reportedly been experiencing serious mental health difficulties. His mother recalled that he returned home from work on Thanksgiving appearing confused and disoriented.
He reportedly began hearing voices telling him to eat sugar, insisting that his heart was beating too forcefully and that consuming sugar would help calm it down, as well as believing someone was following him and was frightened by what he was experiencing.
The exact nature of his symptoms was never established in the account, but his behavior suggested he was going through a deeply distressing period, and had reportedly been prescribed antidepressants shortly before he vanished.
After leaving home, Murillo-Moncada was never heard from again. There was no reported activity on his debit or credit cards, while his employer confirmed he had stopped turning up for work.
For his family, the lack of information meant years of uncertainty about what had happened to their son.
Investigators eventually developed a theory about how Murillo-Moncada could have ended up in the narrow gap behind the supermarket's refrigeration units.
Former employees reportedly explained that staff would sometimes climb on top of the coolers to reach a storage area above them.
It is believed Murillo-Moncada may have attempted to access this space on the day he disappeared. Whether he was looking for something or simply trying to find somewhere quiet is unknown.
Simulation reveals how the man may have died
According to a new simulation, he climbed onto the refrigeration units before accidentally falling into the gap between the equipment and the wall, with the space reportedly around 18 inches wide and 12 feet high, potentially leaving him unable to escape once he had fallen inside.
The coolers also generated substantial noise, which could have made it difficult for anyone nearby to hear him if he called for assistance.
While the simulation alleges that it is possible he died from injuries sustained in the fall, another scenario is that he survived initially and was unable to free himself, but despite examiners' investigations, there is no evidence establishing precisely what happened during his final hours.
Adding to the mystery, Murillo-Moncada was reportedly not scheduled to work that day, meaning colleagues may not have expected him to be inside the building.
By the time contractors uncovered the remains in 2019, they were no longer recognizable, with investigators ultimately identifying Murillo-Moncada through DNA testing involving samples from his parents.
His father, Victor Murillo, was left struggling to understand how his son could have remained hidden inside a workplace for so long.
He questioned the circumstances directly, asking: “how can a body just be there [undetected]?”
Perhaps most unsettling was the fact that the supermarket continued operating for years after Murillo-Moncada disappeared behind the fridges, with the business remaining open until 2016, meaning customers and staff had continued visiting the premises for around seven years before it closed.
His remains were then left undiscovered inside the vacant building for a further three years, until the contractors began removing the equipment.