By Ivan Pereira
After more than a year of searching, the military said they have found the remains of the Corona soldier who was reported missing in Iraq last year.
The Department of Defense notified the family of Sgt. Alex Jimenez Thursday that he had been identified as one of two people whose remains were discovered in Jurf as-Sakhr, Iraq, on July 8.
“Right now I feel very sad,” said the solider’s mother, Maria del Rosario Duran, as she broke down at a news conference outside her house on 37th Drive in Corona.
Jimenez, who was 25 at the time of his disappearance, was on guard duty in Baghdad on May 12, 2007, when his team was ambushed by terrorists, the Department of Defense said.
Following the ambush, four of Jimenez’s comrades were killed, while he and two other soldiers were captured.
The military had gone through an extensive search for the missing soldiers and found the body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. in the Euphrates River 11 days after the attack. A week later, terrorists posted a video that showed the identity cards of Jimenez and fellow hostage Pvt. Byron Fouty, whose remains were also discovered this week.
Despite months of no news on her son’s whereabouts, Duran prayed for a miracle.
“We have hope. It is in the Lord’s hands. He gives us strength,” she told the TimesLedger last year.
Jimenez is survived by his mother; father, Ramon Jimenez, who lives in Massachusetts; wife, Yadelin Jimenez, 24; and five brothers. City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst), who has known the family for nine years, said funeral arrangements were still being worked out but he believed there services both in Massachusetts, where Alex Jimenez lived part of his life, and in Queens.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
