07:41 PM CST on Friday, November 21, 2003

By Dan Lauck / 11 News

HOUSTON -- A mysterious dismemberment death and the disappearance of a family continue to stump local detectives.

It's been eight days now and little Genisis's bicycle is still sitting outside the apartment in the 9400 block of Concourse. But there's no sign of Genisis Benitez nor her two-year old brother Emanuel, nor their mother Sylvia.

Last Thursday evening, Houston police were called to the westside apartment where they found blood and garbage bags and body parts. The man, who'd been murdered and cut apart, was Benitez's common-law husband, Yeiko Josue Gonzalez. But his wife and children were gone.

When police left the apartment complex, they didn't know if Sylvia Benitez was a victim or a suspect. They only knew she was gone.

"The detective came to talk to me yesterday," said Trinity Armstead who lives upstairs and heard the couple arguing on Sunday night. The next day, another man was driving Gonzales' car.

"I'd never seen him before. It wasn't her husband," Armstead said.

Some of the neighbors believe Sylvia Benitez had a new boyfriend and police have shown them a stack of pictures which included two men. One was Gonzales.

If Benitez fled with her two children, police believe they had at least a two-day lead on them.