Few Leads in Death of Father, Children

Man's Employer Says Workers Were Told This Month That Plant Is Closing

Authorities searched three cars and a shallow pond in Frederick yesterday in an effort to advance what they portrayed as an increasingly frustrating investigation into the deaths of four children and their father and the disappearance of their mother.

The cars, which belonged to parents Pedro Rodriguez and Deysi Benitez, were parked outside the family's townhouse when the five bodies were found there Monday afternoon. Lt. Thomas Chase said investigators were not acting on specific information when they searched the nearby pond, an effort he said produced no new leads.

"Right now, we're trying to create our own leads, because we're not getting anything else," Chase said, speaking 11 days after anyone in the family is known to have been seen alive.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the door manufacturing company Masonite confirmed that on March 15, employees at its Frederick plant, where Rodriguez had worked since 2003, were told that the facility will close in July. Some employees were to be offered jobs at another facility, the spokesman said. It was not immediately clear what effect the closure would have had on Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, 28, and Benitez, 25, both immigrants from El Salvador, had struggled with money in the past. One of their cars was repossessed for nonpayment several years ago, according to the salesman, and the family was housed for a time by a nonprofit agency in Frederick.

In August 2005, after leaving that transitional housing program, they bought the townhouse, in the city's Hillcrest Heights section, for close to $196,000 -- against the advice of Rosalinda Delgado, an acquaintance who described herself yesterday as a mentor to Benitez.

"I knew the financial situation," said Delgado, publisher of the Spanish-language magazine Buena Gente. "When she called and said, 'We want to buy a house,' I said, 'You can't afford to buy a house" in Frederick. Delgado said she advised the family to consider Hagerstown or West Virginia. But Rodriguez and Benitez were intent on remaining in the city, Delgado said.

She said she never knew Rodriguez to be a violent person, as one of Benitez's sisters has told reporters. Rodriguez's siblings have also called the marriage an unhappy one, saying Benitez was unfaithful.

Chase provided new details yesterday about the eight times police were dispatched to the townhouse since October 2005, saying that only one call involved a dispute between Rodriguez and Benitez and that that dispute was not physical. The other calls involved noise and parking complaints and other matters that did not involve hostility between Rodriguez and Benitez.

Medical examiners are awaiting the results of toxicology tests before concluding autopsies on Rodriguez and the children: Elsa, 9, Vanessa, 4, Angel, 3, and Carena, 1. The level of decomposition of all five bodies appeared to be similar, Chase said. That suggests they died about the same time.

He also said the scheduled shift that Benitez missed at the Outback Steakhouse was on March 21, several days later than what police had said previously. Asked whether investigators believe Benitez is still alive, Chase said, "We're not leaning either way."

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.