Police: Mexico dad who reported giving away 2 children to settle debt now says he killed them

Police: Mexico dad says he killed 2 children

MEXICO CITY — A Mexico City father who had told police he gave his two children to a woman to settle a debt now says he killed the toddlers himself, authorities said Tuesday.

Javier Covarrubias, 20, didn’t say why he killed his children, only that he did and hid their bodies in different locations, according to a statement from the capital’s Attorney General’s Office.

Hours later Tuesday, authorities said the bodies of two children had been found in plastic bags and were being tested to see if their DNA matched that of Covarrubias. Results should be ready Wednesday, though authorities said the mother identified the clothes on the bodies.

The statement said Covarrubias left his house May 18 and took the children to a park. There he allegedly asphyxiated 1½-year-old Isis Liliana, and a half hour later he asphyxiated 2½-year-old Darien Isai, the statement said.

On Sunday, prosecutors said Covarrubias had reported his two children kidnapped then changed his story and said he really gave them to a woman to settle a debt of 25,000 pesos, or about $1,925.

The original kidnapping report set off riots and street blockades in the poor Tepito neighborhood in central Mexico City as residents demanded that authorities provide more security.