The two young children of the Bucktown community couple found stabbed to death earlier this week, have been located alive and well, authorities said Friday.
Santiago Soto, 3, and Maria Guadalupe Soto, 2 months, were taken to hospitals to be examined by doctors. They will then be placed in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, a DCFS spokesman said.
Chicago police said the children were found in an undisclosed location in the city but refused to discuss details of how they were located or who they were with at the time. Both children, however, appeared to be in good health, said police department spokesman Pat Camden.
A search was launched for the children after their father, Mariano Soto, 39, and mother, Jacinita, 35, were found dead Wednesday in their basement apartment in the 2000 block of North Leavitt Street.
The couple had been dead for several days, police said.
While trying to locate the youngsters, police said authorities had been checking with family members in Chicago as well as with relatives in California and Mexico.
Both Sotos suffered multiple stab wounds. A knife police believed was used in the killings was found under Mariano Soto’s body.
Grand-Central Area Cmdr. Philip Cline said that domestic trouble had not been ruled out as a explanation for the deaths, but that other potential motives were still being checked out.
The DCFS spokesman said that the children would be taken to the agency’s emergency reception center when they were released from the hospital and then placed in a foster home for the time being.
