There are few stories as peculiarly morbid as the case of Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada, the man discovered trapped behind a set of store shelves some 10 years after he disappeared.
According to reports from the time, Larry was declared missing on November 28, 2009, when his parents had grown concerned after he fled his home in a distressed state, barefoot during a blizzard without his keys and car, and failed to return.
Larry was 25 years old at the time, employed at the No Frills supermarket in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Though a search soon got underway, no trace of the missing man was found. His family had little to console them following his vanishing. Indeed, it simply seemed as though he had disappeared into thin air one day.
According to the BBC, relatives of Larry had revealed that he was suffering from hallucinations at the time of his disappearance.
“He was hearing voices that said ‘eat sugar’,” his mother said, via a translator.
“He felt his heart was beating too hard and thought if he ate sugar, his heart would not beat so hard.”
According to Council Bluffs Police Captain Todd Weddum, Larry’s parents believed he was possibly acting strangely due to the medication he was taking
Then, a decade later, in 2019, a tragic discovery changed everything.
The store worker’s remains were found at the local supermarket in Council Bluffs where he had worked. His body was discovered wedged in an 18-inch gap between the cooler and a wall.
As per reports, Larry’s corpse was found by a group of workers who had been ordered to remove shelves and coolers. The store had been shut for three years at this point and the premises were being cleared.
Using DNA collected from his parents, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation were able to identify Larry. The clothing on his body also matched what he was said to have been wearing at the time of his disappearance.
According to the Des Moines Register, Larry’s death was ruled accidental.
Investigators looking into the accident concluded that Larry had gone into the supermarket after leaving his family home, thereafter climbing atop the store’s coolers. There, he must have fallen into the gap between the units and the wall, tragically becoming trapped in the process.
Sergeant Brandon Danielson said it would have been a 12-foot fall, while the noise of the freezer units would have been ‘so loud’ there was ‘probably no way anyone heard him.’
“Our heads are spinning, finding this out after so many years, and it is distressing, it makes us feel a lot of pain,” said Larry’s father, Victor Murillo, after the discovery of his son in 2019.
“They closed the building. The freezers weren’t working anymore. So how can a body just be there?”
Hauntingly, former staff members claimed they had reported a terrible smell coming from the freezer units, though their complaints were repeatedly dismissed.
Rest in peace, Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada.
