© Phoenix Police Department An Arizona couple have been charged after the bones of a young girl were found at a home in Phoenix, Arizona, last week.

Firefighters found a young girl's bones in the attic of a burned home in Arizona—and they had been hidden there for more than two years, authorities said.

Rafael Loera, 56, and his wife Maribel Loera, 50, were arrested after the skeletal remains of the girl were found.

The Phoenix Fire Department responded to the home after the fire broke out on Tuesday, but homicide detectives were called to the scene when firefighters discovered human skeletal remains in the attic, Phoenix police said.

Phoenix police said the call about the fire had come just an hour after the Arizona Department of Child Services (DPS) removed two children—aged 4 and 9—from the home.

A week earlier, an 11-year-old girl who lived in the home had called police to say she was there alone. DPS officers removed the child from the home after discovering evidence of child abuse. She had been the only child home that day, police said.

Police have since revealed the remains found in the attic last week belonged to a young girl who hasn't been seen since 2017, AZFamily.com reported.

Rafael Loera identified the remains of the girl as the couple's adopted child Ana Loera, also known as Charisma Marquez, the website reported.

He initially told police that Ana Loera, who would be 13 now, had gone to Mexico and did not want to be contacted, but he later admitted the girl was dead, according to a complaint filed by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

He claimed Ana Loera had fallen ill in July 2017 and that he waited several days before taking her to hospital, but she died on the way there, the complaint said.

Concerned the other children would be taken away, Loera said he returned home with the girl's corpse and neither he nor his wife reported her death. Instead, her body was wrapped in a sheet and put in the attic. Her cause of death of death has not yet been determined.

Loera admitted that he had seen his wife abusing the children, including hitting them with an electrical cord and broom handle, according to AZFamily.com. According to court documents, he said he didn't report the abuse because he feared his wife would hurt him. According to the website, he said he and his wife adopted another young girl in the months after Ana Loera's death.

On January 28, shortly after the couple's other children were removed, Rafael Loera claimed he removed the remains from the attic and put them in the backyard before setting the house on fire, AZFamily.com reported.

NBC News reported that when firefighters first arrived at the scene, Rafael Loera told them the flames were contained to the fireplace and they didn't need to enter the property.

"Firefighters knew that was obviously not the case," Phoenix fire Captain Rob McDade told NBC News. McDade said that if they had arrived five minutes later, the entire house would have been destroyed.

He added that firefighters checked the attic after a fire department arson dog sniffed gasoline on the walls and floor. That's when they found the human bones, he said.

Rafael Loera was booked into jail on charges related to concealing human body parts, endangerment, child abuse and arson. Maribel Loera was also booked on child abuse charges.

The Phoenix Police Department, the Arizona Department of Child Services and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office have been contacted for comment.

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