Bizarre Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada – The Supermarket Worker Who Vanished

Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada was last seen running out of his parent’s house barefoot in the middle of a snowstorm. The 25-year-old from Council Bluffs, Iowa, went missing in November 2009 and was never heard from again.

A missing person report was made, and flyers went up all over the city. However, weeks, months, and years went by, with no trace of Larry. That was until January 2019, when Larry’s body was found behind a cooler as the supermarket he once worked.

The No Frills Supermarket in Council Bluffs closed in 2016, but contractors only began moving stuff out of the former grocery store in 2019. It is believed that Larry was upset at his parents and acting irrationally because of the medication he was on.

Larry then went to his place of work where he climbed the coolers for fun, then accidentally fell down the 18-inch gap at the back. The heavy-duty equipment’s volume would have likely drowned out any shouting or cries from Larry, who had become wedged.

Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada – The Mystery Solved

“It’s so loud, there’s probably no way anyone heard him,” said Sgt. Brandon Danielson of the Council Bluffs Police Department.

The autopsy by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation showed no signs of trauma. This lead to Murillo-Moncada’s official cause of death to be ruled accidental death. His mother, Ana Moncada, told police in 2009 that her son was “disoriented” before he ran off and that voices were telling him to “eat sugar.”

“He felt his heart was beating too hard and thought if he ate sugar, his heart would not beat so hard,” she said.

Sgt. Danielson added that Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada ran off in the middle of a severe storm while entirely unprepared for the conditions.

“It was a snowstorm at the time,” said Sgt. Brandon Danielson. “He left with no shoes, no socks, no keys, no car.”

Authorities had conducted a thorough search for the Larry upon his initial disappearance. Contacting family members and other law enforcement agencies, including detention centers and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Murillo-Moncada had been deported to Honduras before making his way back to the United States and starting his job at No Frills Supermarket.

The area Murillo-Moncada’s body was found in was considered an unofficial hangout spot by colleagues. A place of temporary refuge from the job and its customers. A spot Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada likely knew well. It was primarily used as storage space, but employees would take breaks there and frequently climb the coolers.

DNA matches from the body and his Larry’s parents, as well as the clothes which matched the description of what he was wearing the night he went missing, confirmed that it was indeed Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada.

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