DELTONA, Fla. – The mother and her two children reported missing are dead, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies said they have not found the bodies of Yessenia Suarez and her two children, 8-year-old Michael Otto and 9-year-old Thalia Otto but they did confirm that the three are dead.
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Suarez and her children were reported missing on Wednesday and Suarez's husband, Luis Toledo (pictured, below), was named a person of interest in her disappearance on Thursday, according to deputies.
Suarez and her children were last spotted on Tuesday. One of Suarez's two vehicles were found in the driveway of her home. The other, a 2013 Honda Accord, was recovered on Wednesday in the parking lot of a Publix store in Lake Mary.
A family member called VCSO on Wednesday morning and asked for deputies to conduct a well-being check on 28-year-old Suarez at a home on Covent Gardens Place in Deltona, officials said. Neither Suarez, nor her children were at the home.
Shortly after, Toledo, 31, arrived at the home and was arrested based on battery charges from a domestic violence incident that occurred Tuesday at his wife's workplace--American K-9 Detection Services in Lake Mary.
According to a police report, Toledo said he went to his wife's work to confront her about text messages found on her phone. Toledo also wanted to speak to another employee and her bosses about the alleged indiscretions but couldn't find any.
Police said Toledo slapped Suarez at her job. Toledo, who deputies say is a known gang member, fled before police arrived at the scene, but he was booked into the Volusia County Jail in Daytona Beach on Wednesday.
"It's really hitting hard and for me and my wife it's been a nightmare...and this nightmare hasn't ended," said Suarez's father, Ruben Perez.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued a missing child alert for the siblings early Thursday. They are also investigating with VCSO.
Suarez's family spoke out on Thursday, pleading for the public's help and then making a pointed plea to Suarez's husband.
"If anybody sees my grand kids please and my daughter turn them to me please," said Suarez's mother, Felicia Perez. "Please, please I beg you Louis. You know you know where they at, please that's all I ask."
Suarez's family says she is set to graduate from Rollins College in May. Records show she had one domestic violence battery charged in 2008.
Toledo has had charges of burglary, kidnapping and firearms charges against him in Broward and Orange counties. He has a list of aliases as well, known as Louis Colon, Hector Soto or Michael Garcia, records show.
Toledo served a 4-year prison sentence as "Michael Garcia."