LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ (AZFamily) — A missing persons case has now turned into a homicide investigation after police said they found two bodies in the backyard Thursday of a Litchfield Park home. An international manhunt is now underway for Matthew Flores, 27, who has been named a suspect.
Avondale police confirmed detectives are working to recover two unidentified bodies buried in the backyard of the home near Litchfield Road and Wigwam Boulevard.
How the investigation began
The investigation began Tuesday afternoon after family members requested a welfare check on a husband, wife and their son, Flores.
Avondale police searched the home and did not find anyone inside, but found a disturbing clue. Avondale Police Officer Daniel Benavidez said officers discovered large amounts of blood and evidence of an attempt to clean it up, which indicated foul play.
Police believed the three disappeared under “suspicious circumstances,” and a missing persons investigation was opened.
Bodies discovered in backyard
Drone footage captured detectives digging with shovels and a mini excavator in the backyard Thursday morning.
Benavidez says the two bodies were found “in a state of decomposition.”
“I can’t tell you how many hours or days, but what I can say is that the bodies are in a state of decomposition,” he said.
Authorities believe Matthew Flores, 27, fled the country before officers searched the home and is considered a suspect.(Arizona’s Family/Avondale Police Department)
Avondale police said they are not releasing the names of the missing husband and wife.
Police also would not say how long the husband and wife had been missing, stating only that the first welfare check call came in Tuesday afternoon.
Police said they are also processing vehicles for evidence but did not confirm how many vehicles are involved or how they may be connected to the case. A neighbor told Arizona’s Family the backyard pool next to where the bodies were found had been added just last month.
Suspect identified, fled country
Authorities believe Flores fled the country before officers searched the home and is considered a suspect.
“I can’t speak to why he fled the country. What I can say is that we believe him to be a suspect in this missing persons investigation,” the officer said.
Detectives are not formally designating Flores a homicide suspect at this time but said he is a suspect in the missing persons investigation.
Police would not confirm whether Flores has a criminal history or mental health history. Officers also would not confirm whether he lived with his parents, saying only that he was expected to be at the house when the welfare check was conducted.
Investigators stress that there is no threat to the public, and it was an isolated incident.
Avondale police are working with Phoenix police’s homicide unit to recover the remains.
Extensive search at family’s home
On Thursday morning, Arizona’s Family drone captured video of investigators using a construction front loader to dig and sift dirt in the backyard. Investigators then set up two tents in the backyard during the search.
Authorities searched the home all day Wednesday into early Thursday morning. Avondale and Phoenix police officers were seen going in and out of the home both days, which was surrounded with crime scene tape. Several police crime scene vans were parked outside of the home.
Investigators were also seen removing bags of items from the house on Wednesday evening. The garage door was open as officers searched through containers on the property. Two neighbors told Arizona’s Family the scene had been active since approximately 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Two neighbors independently reported seeing a suspicious vehicle circling the neighborhood around the time of the incident. One neighbor declined to go on camera.
What neighbors saw and heard
A second neighbor, who spoke on camera, said she also saw someone circling the neighborhood before hearing a disturbance.
“I was so confused and I’m honestly still so confused just seeing all this because our neighborhood is super quiet,” she said. “We don’t really have much going on here. I don’t even really see my neighbors for the most part. I don’t really see them come home. I don’t see them leave. It’s a super, super quiet neighborhood. So this is a shock to all of us. We’re all just trying to figure out what the heck is going on. And hopefully everything is good and I hope everyone’s OK.”
The neighbor said she had heard a person scream the words “please stop” the day before. She said she did not think much of it at the time.
“I was on the other side of the sidewalk and I definitely heard it come from that direction. But I was like, ‘okay, we live by a middle school, it might be nothing’, so I didn’t think more of it,” she said.
A woman who was at a home in the neighborhood for a hair appointment Thursday — located next door to the crime scene — said her hairdresser filled her in on some details. “She knew them, not that well, but she knew them,” said JoAnne Nix. “She said she’s seen them walking, the husband and wife. The son she thought had only been there a few months, but he had a lot of friends coming and going.”
“This is not the neighborhood you would think something like this would happen, you know, that they’d be buried in the backyard,” said Nix.
Anyone with information about Flores’ whereabouts can contact the Avondale Police Department at 623-333-7001 or Silent Witness.
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