A couple who vanished last year with their five children after the man’s son was found dead in Washington state were arrested late last month in Mexico, officials announced on Friday.
Edgar Salvador Casian-Garcia, 34, his girlfriend, Araceli Medina, 38, and their five missing and endangered children were located in Mexico. The Tri-City Herald reported. Casian-Garcia’s son, Edgar Casian, 7, was found dead in Benton County in February 2022 — a year after the couple put a surgical mask over his face and kept running water over his face for several hours, essentially waterboarding him.
Casian was reportedly bound and Casian-Garcia and Medina left the bathroom during the deadly incident.
Prosecutors alleged that the couple held Casian and his sisters’ heads underwater, sliced them with razors, and poured burning water on one of them. The Tri-City Herald reported that they also tied up the children and left them in a bathroom.
The slain boy’s mother told the news outlet that she had contacted Child Protective Services several times after Casian-Garcia took custody of him and their two daughters in May 2020.
Casian-Garcia and Medina disappeared with their five children in May 2021. A month later, two of the girls, ages 9 and 3, were found abandoned at a gas station in Mexico. One of the girls said they were tortured and raped at the couple’s home in Washington, KING reported. Hikers discovered Casian’s body about eight months later.
Casian-Garcia and Medina were put on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list this year. The pair is charged with aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree child rape, and first-degree assault of a child. They are awaiting extradition to Washington.
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[Featured image: Edgar Salvador Casian-Garcia and Araceli Medina/U.S. Marshals Service; Edgar Casian/Pasco Police Department]
