A partially decomposed body that workers found Wednesday in overgrown grass and litter along the Gary side of Cline Avenue has been identified as the missing uncle of a slaying victim found stabbed to death in a car earlier this year, authorities said.
Carlos Verduzco, 41, who had been missing since Jan. 31, was shot to death, according to a news release from the Lake County coroner’s office. Verduzco, of Laredo, Texas, was found just after noon Wednesday by workers who were placing road work signs when they spotted his body at the bottom of an embankment on the south side of the Fifth Avenue exit ramp on northbound Cline Avenue — about a mile from where he was last seen. He was identified with the help of dental records.
Verduzco was the uncle of Fernando Verduzco, 26, who was found stabbed to death and left in his parked car that same day outside his home on the 200 block of Hobart Street. Carlos Verduzco had not been seen since.
A short time later, a 26-year-old Bridgeview, Ill., man was found stabbed in the throat at Chicago and Cline avenues at Gary’s far western border.
He told police he was stabbed and stuffed in the trunk of his car but jumped out on Chicago Avenue.
Police have not provided details on the events that led to the deaths of the Verduzcos. No one has been charged in the death of Fernando Verduzco.
Carlos Verduzco was visiting family in Chicago and Northwest Indiana for two weeks when he disappeared. His sisters held a news conference in February at the Gary Public Safety Facility asking for help in finding him.
“We very much want to bring him home. We are heartbroken. Our parents are heartbroken,” Graciela Verduzco said at the time.
He had six children, from adults to elementary school age, in Texas, where he worked in oil fields, his sisters said. They recalled their brother as a happy and fun-loving person.
“People say that someone comes in a room, and they light it up. He really was like that,” Gloria Gomez said at the time.
Neither Graciela Verduzco nor Gloria Gomez could be reached for comment Thursday.
Police request that anyone with information should contact Detective Alexander Jones of the Lake County/Gary Metro Homicide Unit at 219-755-3855.