Pacoima Pair Found at Boy’s Grave Arrested

A Pacoima couple, part of a complex family found clustered around a makeshift grave late at night in the San Gabriel Mountains, were arrested Monday on suspicion of murdering the 5-year-old boy they had just buried there, authorities said.

Marco Barragon, 34, and Guana Barrera, 28, were found Sunday night with three children--14-year-old twin boys and a 7-year-old girl--gathered around the shallow grave the family had dug, said Lt. Ray Peavy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide unit.

Deputies identified Barragon as the father of the dead boy and the other children. Barrera is the dead child’s aunt and mother of some other children in the family, they said.

Investigators at first believed the boy, Ernesto Barrera, had died naturally and that the family could not afford a proper funeral or for the body’s return to their native Mexico.

“We were of the opinion this was a natural death and they chose to bury him themselves,” Peavy said. By Monday morning, however, after more questioning, the investigators believed “the child . . . was killed by at least one of the adults.”

Investigators would not say what led them to that conclusion.

The body had no gunshot wounds or other obvious signs of violence, Peavy said, but, “We believe we know how the child died.”

An autopsy by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office will determine the cause of death.

Nine surviving children--including six who were not at the grave--were placed in care of the county’s Department of Children and Family Services, said Schuyler Sprowles, a spokesman for the agency.

The children range in age from 3-month-old twins to the 14-year-old twins, according to authorities. Five of the children are believed to be Barragon’s by Barrera’s sister, Petra, who was not arrested and is not involved in the case, deputies said.

Peavy said no charges were expected against any others present at the grave.

According to investigators, deputies patrolling Lopez Canyon Road--which cuts through rough terrain about two miles north of the Foothill Freeway and Paxton Street--noticed the couple’s brown Honda Accord in a dirt turnout.

Barragon emerged from the vegetation on the west side of the road as deputies checked the car, they said. After brief questioning, he led the deputies about 50 yards into the tall brush to a small clearing where the grave was dug.

The boy had already been interred and the family was holding an apparent burial ritual, deputies said.

The deputies scratched lightly at the foot-deep grave, uncovering a small hand, Peavy said. They took the family into custody, and homicide investigators were called to the scene.

The twin boys had apparently done much of the digging, because their hands were covered with dirt, Peavy said. A pick and a shovel were nearby.

In interviews Sunday and Monday, investigators learned the family wanted to take the boy’s body to Mexico, but because of the expense decided to bury him themselves, deputies said.

They wanted the grave to be near the family so “they could visit on weekends,” Peavy said. Investigators said the family appeared to be attempting a proper burial, but would not say whether the couple appeared remorseful.

“They wanted to be here together to bury the child,” Peavy said of the family.”

Times staff writer Claire Vitucci contributed to this report.