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Visalia father finds boys dead in bed

Pair -- ages 10, 2 -- seemed fine Friday.

Saturday, Nov. 08, 2008

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Two Visalia boys who appeared to be healthy Friday night were found dead in their bed Saturday morning, and police are treating the deaths as suspicious.

Angel Camarillo, 10, and his brother, George, 2, were disabled, their father said, but there was no indication that they had been seriously ill.

Police released few details late Saturday, but distraught family members and neighbors gathered with a pastor at the family's small house on the 3000 block of East Houston Avenue throughout the day to try to make sense of the deaths.

With the help of a neighbor who translated from Spanish, Angelino Camarillo described how he went into his sons' bedroom at 9 a.m. and saw that they had died. He said both boys apparently had vomited.

The neighbor, Liz Martinez, said a gas company truck was at Camarillo's home Saturday morning after the boys were found. Camarillo said no gas leak was found.

Martinez said her daughter knew Angel from school. He was in the fifth grade.

Visalia police Sgt. Jim Carr said no arrests had been made by late Saturday afternoon. Autopsies will be conducted.

"Because our investigation is still going on, we're not releasing any additional information at this time," Carr said.

A small group of neighbors was gathered in front of the house Saturday evening. Through the open front door, a few women could be seen washing dishes in the kitchen. The boys' mother, Roberta Morales, sat in a chair as a friend hugged her.

Standing in front of the family's house down a long dirt driveway, Camarillo said the boys appeared to be feeling well Friday.

Camarillo said he, Morales and the boys went to a church service at Iglesia de Jesus in Farmersville on Friday night. The family returned home about midnight, and the boys went to bed about 2 a.m., he said.

Felipe Santillan, pastor of the church, said through an interpreter that Camarillo called him Saturday morning after the boys were found.

Visalia police officers tried to revive the boys, who were unresponsive and not breathing when officers arrived.

Santillan -- a Bible with a blue leather cover tucked in the front of his jacket -- said he spent all day at the small, gray stucco house comforting the parents.

Santillan said the family moved to Visalia from Santa Maria about two years ago. Church members had been praying for the boys' health to improve, Santillan said.

Camarillo said he is a farmworker and Morales stayed home to care for the boys, who were the couple's only children.

Bee staff writer Tim Sheehan contributed to this report. The reporter can be reached at plloyd@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6756.
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