Father of store worker found trapped behind fridge for 10 years says he felt the ‘earth swallowed him whole’

The father of deceased supermarket worker Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada said he felt like the earth had 'swallowed' him whole following his disappearance.

Murillo-Moncada, 25, had vanished during a blistering snowstorm in Council Bluffs, Iowa back in 2009 after reportedly arguing with his parents.

After he failed to return home, Murillo-Moncada's alerted the authorities to his disappearance and explained that their son was 'barefoot' and 'hallucinating' at the time he left the family home.

After initial searches were unsuccessful, Murillo-Moncada's disappearance became a cold case before the devastating truth was revealed a decade later.

Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada went missing in 2009 and was never seen again. (Council Bluffs Police Department)

In 2019, workers began removing the fridges from the closed No Frills supermarket - where Murillo-Moncada had worked - when they made a horrifying discovery.

There were human remains wedged upside down in a 18-inch gap between one of the store's 12ft freezers.

DNA test results taken after the body was removed would later confirm the remains were that of Murillo-Moncada's.

What's even more gruesome is that the No Frills supermarket had only closed its doors in 2016, which meant that the man's decomposing remains had been just inches away from shoppers for around seven years.

Police investigators added that Murillo-Moncada's body showed no signs of trauma and it was concluded that his death was an 'accident'.

The recovery allowed Murillo-Moncada's parents to finally get some closure about what happened to their son, with his father Victor Murillo opening up on his reaction to the heartbreaking news.

"We went out to find him, my wife and I," Murillo told local US news outlet KETV after the discovery was made. "Another friend came to help me. We got up early and couldn’t find anything. It felt like the earth had swallowed him whole."

His father Victor Murillo opened up about the devastating discovery. (KETV)

Revealing how the truth about what had happened to his son had affected him, Murillo added: "Our heads are spinning, finding this out after so many years, and it is distressing. It makes us feel a lot of pain."

Police have also weighed in on how Murillo-Moncada's body managed to go so long without being discovered, explaining that they believed the noises from the cooling mechanism would've most likely muffled any screams from the 25-year-old.

"It's so loud there's probably no way anyone heard him," Sergeant Brandon Danielson told the BBC of the case.

Sgt Danielson, who had worked on Murillo-Moncada's disappearance back in 2009 added: "We have missing persons all the time, but this is just unique."

Meanwhile, a horrifying simulation revealing how Murillo-Moncada managed to get stuck behind the fridge was released earlier this year.