DA: Man fled to Ecuador after Brockton murders

BROCKTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Investigators want to question an illegal immigrant with a violent criminal record who fled the country for his native Ecuador just hours after the bodies of a woman and her toddler son were found in a trash bin near their home, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Luis Guaman, who also went by the names Antonio Castro and Segundo Castro, was one of the last people seen with the victims before they were found dead in Brockton, prosecutors said.

Ecuadorean immigrant Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela, 25, and her son, Brian Palaguachi, 2, were killed by blows to the head. Police found the mother's body stuffed in a duffel bag in the dumpster on Sunday night after receiving an anonymous tip. The boy's body was found near hers.

The mother and son were killed near dumpster, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz said. No one has been charged with the killings.

Witnesses told investigators that Guaman took his belongings and left the apartment building he shared with the victims and another tenant over the weekend, before the bodies were discovered.

Investigators believe Guaman bought a ticket for a Monday morning flight to Ecuador on Friday or Saturday. Authorities do not believe that the woman and her son were alive at that time, Cruz said.

"We have information that only 2 1/2 hours after the bodies of Maria and her son were discovered in a Dumpster, a man using the name of Segundo Castro left this country on a flight from JFK Airport to Ecuador," Cruz said.

The U.S. has no extradition treaty with Ecuador, Cruz said.

"We intend to reach out to anybody that we possibly can to help us to talk to the Ecuadorean authorities, especially in light of the fact that the people who were murdered in this case are Ecuadorean themselves," he said.

Cruz declined to confirm reports that a love triangle involving the woman, the father of her son and Guaman might have complicated relationships in the apartment.

"All I can say is a 2-year-old boy is dead," Cruz said. "What's that got to do with a love triangle?"

Efforts to track down Guaman have been complicated by the fact that there are no records of him entering the United States legally, Cruz said.

"This has been, to some extent, like chasing ghosts," Cruz said. "You are trying to find people who don't have the appropriate paperwork here."

Still, investigators have determined that Guaman has a violent criminal history in the United States under the three aliases authorities are aware of. This includes a pending warrant out of Milford for a 2007 assault and battery and two felony warrants out of New York for kidnapping with malice and assault, Cruz said.

Guaman also has a pending case in the Brockton District Court for assault with a dangerous weapon, Cruz said.

The FBI has been involved in the investigation.

In a related development, a judge ordered a man who lives in the apartment building be held on $50,000 cash bail on a charge of misleading police investigating the killings.