4 Mexican victims stabbed in heart

A wallet containing $1,300 was found in the apartment.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Four men who were beaten and then each stabbed in the heart had lived in a sparsely furnished suburban apartment, sleeping on mattresses on the floor while sending thousands of dollars to relatives in Mexico, a coroner said Monday.

“The stabbing was methodically placed in all four victims,” Hamilton County Coroner O’dell Owens said.

Two of the four were related and all were from the same town in Mexico, Owens said. He declined to release their names and said he did not know the name of the town.

“There is some question about the quality of the identifications,” Owens said, noting that no ID card of any sort was found in the apartment.

A message was left at the Mexican consulate in Indianapolis asking if officials there had been notified.

Only one wallet was found in the Sharonville apartment, and it contained $1,300, Owens said.

“That’s a lot of money to leave behind,” he said.

The cause of death was a combination of blunt force trauma and stabbing, Owens said. A knife was used in the stabbings, but Owens declined to say what kind of knife was used or to identify the object used to bludgeon the men.

Three of the victims appeared to have been killed while in bed, possibly while asleep, Owens said. Only two showed some sign of struggling.

All had been dead a week to nine days, meaning toxicology tests would have to rely on tissue samples rather than blood, and results could take a couple of weeks, Owens said.

Despite the general condition of the partly decomposed bodies, the men’s faces should be identifiable, Owens said.

There was almost no furniture, no television or stereo and very few clothes in the apartment where the men were found Thursday, Owens said. There were eggs and tortillas in the refrigerator.

Receipts found in the apartment appeared to show that the men were sending money to relatives in Mexico. One receipt was for $2,500, Owens said.

“That’s one of the human interest aspects of the story that shouldn’t be missed,” he said. “You have four individuals, going to work every day, living in an apartment with no furniture ... and yet we found receipts from them sending thousands of dollars back to their families.”

Sharonville police found the bodies Thursday after an owner of the construction company Abc Precision Masonry & Concrete in Mason reported that a usually reliable employee had not shown up for work in several days.

Owens said the owner might be able to help identify the men. The owner did not return repeated calls made by The Associated Press over several days.

“We need to talk to the employer and get them to come in and help us,” Owens said.

A minivan believed to be owned by one of the men was found Friday at Miscellaneous Rodriguez, a grocery store. A tip from a passing motorist led police to the van, about five miles from the apartment where the bodies were found.

The victims lived quietly at the Timber Ridge Apartments, said Lt. John Cook, a Sharonville police spokesman.

“People I have had contact with said these guys kept pretty much to themselves, went to work and came home,” Cook said last week. “It was a simple lifestyle, no wild parties or anything like that.”