Authorities say a Theodore mother, her teenage daughter and her 2-year-old son were killed with an edged weapon and buried together in Baldwin County.

MOBILE, Ala. — A south Alabama missing-person search turned into a capital murder case after investigators said they found a mother and her two children buried in a wooded area near Summerdale and charged a 31-year-old man with killing them after kidnapping them from their Theodore home.

What began as a late-January disappearance now sits at the center of one of the region’s most serious criminal cases. Prosecutors say Hector Gamaliel Argueta-Guerra faces multiple capital murder counts in the deaths of Aurelia Choc Cac, 40, her daughter Niurka Zuleta Choc, 17, and 2-year-old Anthony Garcia Choc. The bodies were first believed to be the family on March 12, and authorities later said forensic methods confirmed the identifications. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

The case moved in stages over more than six weeks. Investigators said the family was last seen alive on Jan. 30 at their home on Ben Hamilton Road in Theodore, southwest of Mobile. The next day, deputies found what they described as evidence of a struggle inside the house, including blood in several areas. Officials also said a mattress and a clothes hamper were missing, while cell phones and cash were left behind. By Feb. 10, the sheriff’s office announced kidnapping charges against the suspect after linking a black van seen at the home to him through days of video review. Sheriff Paul Burch said at that point that investigators hoped to find the family alive, but the search kept widening as deputies, FBI agents, Homeland Security investigators and Baldwin County authorities worked across county lines.

The turning point came when investigators returned to property tied to the suspect near Downing Road in Summerdale. Authorities said three bodies were found buried together in a lightly wooded area, wrapped in plastic and bedding. District Attorney Keith Blackwood called the killings horrific and said court documents described an edged weapon as the cause of the fatal injuries. Investigators said Anthony suffered sharp-force trauma to the head and Aurelia suffered sharp-force injuries to the chest and back. Officials have not publicly explained the precise wounds to Niurka. Blackwood said in court that investigators still had not identified the exact weapon and had not determined the order in which the three were killed. Those unknowns have become central questions as the prosecution moves ahead.

The evidence trail had already been tightening before the graves were found. In early March, a detective testified that blood recovered from the family’s home belonged to Niurka, a detail that deepened fears that violence had begun inside the residence. Authorities also said there were no signs of forced entry, a fact that has raised questions about whether the suspect knew the family or gained access without breaking in. Investigators said the suspect worked in the same painting trade as Aurelia. At the same time, officials have been careful about what they do not yet know. They have said they cannot say whether all three victims were alive when they left the house, what the motive was, or why a 2-year-old child was also killed. “We have a lot of questions ourselves,” Burch said during one of the public briefings.

The legal case also changed as authorities sorted out the suspect’s identity. Earlier filings and news reports referred to him as Juan Carlos Argueta Guerra, but later court action said he had provided false identifying information and that his name was Hector Gamaliel Argueta-Guerra. Prosecutors then laid out a broader charging package: three counts of capital murder during kidnapping, three counts of capital murder during burglary, one count of capital murder for the deaths of two or more persons, one count of capital murder for the death of a child under 14, three counts of abuse of a corpse and one count of obstruction of justice. At a March court appearance, an interpreter translated the proceedings and the defendant entered not guilty pleas.

The public face of the case has been defined by grief, anger and blunt language from officials. Blackwood told reporters that the family did not deserve to die in such a violent way. Burch, speaking after the bodies were found, called the suspect “an evil person” and said the crime scene had left even seasoned investigators shaken. FBI officials also emphasized the scale of the search, saying the agency had deployed field personnel, digital and cellular analysts, evidence teams and K-9 resources. Even with that effort, the final break came only after investigators followed property ties back to the suspect. The result was not a rescue, but the recovery of a family buried together, turning a missing-family investigation into a death-penalty prosecution.

The case now stands at a difficult midpoint: the victims have been identified, the capital charges have been filed and the suspect has pleaded not guilty, but investigators still say the motive, weapon and full sequence of the killings remain unresolved as the prosecution prepares for the next hearings.

Author note: Last updated April 8, 2026.