A body found in Washington with one hand severed and another barely attached was confirmed to be a Maryland teenager who went missing earlier this year.
The body was identified as Eberson Guerra Sánchez, a 16-year-old ninth-grader who attended Tuscarora High School in Frederick, Maryland, by the Washington medical examiner, reported WUSA. The body was found on April 27, one day after Sanchez went missing.
Please Share!#ChainBridgeBody & #DC
The body found over the weekend with a severed hand may be that of a missing 9th grader,
Eberson Guerra Sanchez. https://t.co/CtsUgOZEoc#DCNews & #DCNewsMedia & #WorldWide & #Viral pic.twitter.com/6iPpMCZgb8— Help Find The Missing WorldWide (@FindWorldwide) May 4, 2019
The body, found beneath the Chain Bridge near the popular Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath, was badly beaten and hacked with what detectives believe was a machete.
Tuscarora High School Principal Christopher Berry said in a letter (pdf) to students and parents on May 2 that Sánchez had died, though law enforcement said it could not confirm the identity of the body at the time.
“The victim’s face was so badly beaten, a positive identification will take more time, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham told NBC 4 earlier in May.
Blue and white bags were tied to trees marking a trail to an enclave in the woods where the body was found. The colors are used by MS-13, a transnational gang known to favor beheadings and other brutal execution methods to send messages to the families of victims and others. Investigators removed the bags as forensic evidence.
Eberson Guerra Sánchez, un alumno de Tuscarora High School, fue reportado desaparecido la semana pasada y hallado muerto durante el fin de semana https://t.co/l8PYBZwcks
— Telemundo 44 DC (@Telemundo44) May 2, 2019
A student who chose to stay anonymous told NBC 4 that Sánchez had only attended the school for a few months and believed the teen was from El Salvador.
Berry said in the letter that officials didn’t think there was a threat to other students. “We have no reason at this time to believe the circumstances are connected to Tuscarora High School or other students who attend here,” he wrote.
Police have not issued any updates in the case other than conveying the medical examiner’s finding.
A reward of up to $25,000 is offered by Washington police for anyone who provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of people responsible for homicides committed in the district.
Anyone with information about the murder can call 202-727-9099 or submit anonymous information by text to 50411.
Maryland Teen Found Dead in Creek; 3 Charged With Murder
A missing Maryland teen has been found dead in a Riverdale creek, where authorities said she was beaten with a baseball bat and stabbed with a machete by teens involved with MS-13.
Prince George’s County police told news outlets that the teens were afraid 14-year-old Ariana Funes-Diaz would alert authorities about a crime they committed together in April.
Washington police have said that crime was a gang-related kidnapping in which a man was snatched from near a Metro station, taken to an abandoned house and robbed. Police said two people were arrested in that crime.
Now 14-year-old Cynthia Hernandez-Nucamendi, 16-year-old Josue Fuentes-Ponce, and 17-year-old Joel Escobar have been arrested and charged as adults with first-degree murder. Police said Fuentes-Ponce and Escobar are MS-13 members, and Hernandez-Nucamendi had been reported missing.
Funes-Diaz’s body was found Wednesday, about a month after she went missing.
An autopsy determined she died of blunt force trauma. Authorities said they’re working to identify a fourth person involved in the slaying, which comes only months after authorities found a 16-year-old member of the gang stabbed more than 100 times by fellow gang members.
Prince George’s County police said in March that Jacson Chicas was stabbed to death at a Maryland home and then dumped on the side of a Virginia road and set on fire.
At least five people have been arrested in his death, including a 16-year-old boy charged as an adult with murder. Maj. Brian Reilly said then, “These were his gang member friends who turned on him.”
Police suggested that something similar happened to Funes-Diaz.
“This is not two gangs that are warring with each other,” Reilly said this week. “This is a gang that turned on its associate.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
