Florida investigators identified a pair of teenagers whose bodies were found in an airliner’s landing gear after a New York City-to-Florida flight in January, officials said Tuesday.
It took the use of “extensive DNA testing” for detectives to name Jeik Aniluz Lusi, 18, and Elvis Borques Castillo, 16, the Broward County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Both teens were from the Dominican Republic, sheriff’s spokesperson Carey Codd said.
Their bodies were found late Jan. 6 after JetBlue Flight 1801 landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Flight 1801 took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport at 7:49 that evening and landed in South Florida at 11:10 p.m.
The plane had also made a stop on Jan. 5 in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, NBC South Florida has reported.
The sheriff’s statement did not reveal how the teens got into the leading gear or formally state their cause of death.