When Larry Ely Murillo Moncada disappeared in 2009, no one expected for his body to be found in the supermarket he worked at a decade later.
Tragically, the 25-year-old’s body was discovered trapped behind some shelves at the site of the since-closed down supermarket.
Now, customers of the former No Frills Supermarket, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, have recalled their shopping experiences in the store – specifically one area inside the property.
Murillo-Moncada worked for the business at the time of his mysterious disappearance, and after his corpse was discovered it emerged that there was one spot that workers used to hang out for unofficial breaks.
He absconded back in 2009 after dramatically bursting barefoot out of his mom and dad‘s home during a blizzard.
It was a day after Thanksgiving, on November 27, and Murillo-Moncada was experiencing hallucinations, his mom confirmed via translator and family friend, Maria Stockton.
“He was hearing voices that said ‘eat sugar’,” his mom told Council Bluffs Police Department through Stockton.
Adding: “He said somebody was following him, and he was scared.”
Almost 10 years went by until his family were given some form of closure.
Larry Ely Murillop-Moncada was 25 when he was reported missing (CBS 17)
In January 2019, three years after No Frills closed for good, Murillo-Moncada’s body was discovered behind the 12ft high freezers.
It finally all made sense to former shoppers why there was that ‘horrible’ odour that lingered in the aisle.
Taking to social media, customers reflected on their experiences at No Frill supermarket. One person commented: “I always thought it smelled like something dead.”
And they weren’t alone, as someone else agreed: “We went there once and the smell was so strong back there by the coolers that it made me sick, I had to leave. never went back again.”
Murillo-Moncada’s body was stuck behind the coolers for a decade (CBS 17)
While another added: “I shopped there all the time and it smelled horrible! I even asked the butcher one time if the back area was dirty with dried blood from cutting the meat and he said no, it was really clean. It smelled for a long time!”
It was concluded that during his mental health episode Murillo-Moncada had fallen behind the freezers into the 18-inch gap, becoming trapped in the process.
His death was ruled as an accident.
The grocery worker’s corpse was discovered by a crew tasked with dismantling shelves at the store – he was wearing the exact same clothes that his mom described he was in when he left his home without his car keys or possessions.