The family of the 30-year-old man found deadlast week in a Lexington pond say that they want more communication from Lexington police.
The man, Sammy Morales-Plasencia, was from New York and his family still lives there.
“Everyone is feeling overwhelmed and kind of angry, because the moment they found out about their son we are here waiting for a call,” said Hiye Valerio, Morales-Plasencia’s cousin.
Valerio translated for Morales-Plasencia’s parents, Rosa Plasencia and Santos Morales, and uncle, Félix Plasencia, as they talked with LEX 18 Monday about their frustrations over the case.
“The mom is saying the challenge is they're not allowing us to see the body or any pictures, photos,” Valerio said. “The main reason is, they want to confirm it is their son, most of all.”
The family said that they’d not heard anything from Lexington police since a detective notified them last Thursday that Morales-Plasencia’s body had been found.
On Tuesday, after the family's interview with LEX 18, the family called the Lexington Police Department's internal affairs division and said they got a call back from the detective a short time later. But they said they still didn't get the answers they needed.
Morales-Plasencia was discovered in a pond near Saint Joseph East Hospital off Blazer Parkway.
“My understanding, they say the body was really decomposed and that's why they were not allowing us to see the body,” Valerio said. “But again we have the right, the parents have the right to identify their child. It's hard for them not to see the body and bury someone and still have that question behind their heads if it was not him.”
The family reported him missing to Lexington police in December, and said that investigators weren’t helpful then either.
“They gave him the choice to go get the body or transport the body to New York, and the other option is the one they suggest the most, that is cremate the body,” Valerio said, translating for Morales-Plasencia’s uncle. “And that was the answer they gave us, through the phone, that's the only call that we have received so far.”
LEX 18 asked the Lexington Police Department for an interview to ask about the family’s concerns, but they declined, saying that the case remains under investigation. They also said that they are working with the coroner’s office and the state medical examiner’s office to determine Morales-Plasencia’s cause of death.
