Frederick — The bodies of Pedro Rodriguez and his four children returned to Frederick on Friday for a funeral service at the Kenney and Basford Funeral Home on Church Street.The closed casket service, which lasted about a half an hour, was private and intimate, according to a spokesman from the funeral home. Only family and invited guests were allowed to attend. The only person to speak during the service was the Rev. Rodolfo Campos of the Maranatha Community Church of God. The service was put together quickly and while the family appreciates the public's support, members needed time to grieve privately, he said. The bodies of Rodriguez, 28, and his children — Elsa, 9; Vanessa, 4; Angel, 3; and Carena, 1 — were found March 26 in their townhouse at 1252 Danielle Drive. The three girls died from suffocation and Angel, who was commonly called Pedro, died from blunt force trauma to the head, according to the state medical examiner's office. Rodriguez's death was ruled suicide by hanging. Rodriguez's wife and the children's mother, Deysi Benitez, 25, is still missing. There have been no sightings or new leads, said Lt. Tom Chase of the Frederick Police Department. Airline passenger checks and subpoenaed bank and telephone records have produced no leads, he said. The W.H. Bacon Funeral Home of Washington collected the five bodies from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore on Wednesday. The bodies will be sent to El Salvador for burial, said Wanda Bacon, funeral home owner. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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