FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The two victims who were found dead inside the wheel well of a JetBlue plane in January at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport have been identified, authorities announced Thursday.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said following “extensive DNA testing,” the victims were identified as Jeik Aniluz Lusi, 18, and Elvis Borques Castillo, 16.
Local 10 News previously spoke with a relative of Aniluz Lusi’s in January, who identified the teen as one of the victims and said he had been missing since Jan. 3.
The relative, Nelson René, said some in their community in the Dominican Republic suspected that Aniluz Lusi and two other teens planned to escape the country.
He said the whereabouts of one of the teens remains unknown.
According to a spokesperson for JetBlue, the victims’ bodies were discovered Jan. 6 in the landing gear compartment of the plane during a “routine post-flight maintenance inspection.”
The victims were already dead when they were found, the spokesperson confirmed.
According to flight radar data, the flight arrived at 11:03 p.m. that night from New York’s JFK International Airport.
A BSO spokesman confirmed at the time that Airport District deputies responded to the scene at about 11:30 p.m. and paramedics pronounced the victims dead at the scene.
The victims’ cause of death has not yet been released, although BSO confirmed that autopsies were performed on both victims.