2 teens found dead in JetBlue landing gear ID’d months later with ‘extensive DNA testing’

Florida investigators identified a pair of teenagers whose bodies were found in an airliner’s landing gear after a New York City-to-Fort Lauderdale flight back in January, officials said on Tuesday.

It took the use of “extensive DNA testing” for detectives to name Jeik Aniluz Lusi, 18, and Elvis Borques Castillo, 16, according to statement by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.

Both teens were from the Dominican Republic, Sheriff’s spokesperson Carey Codd added.

Their bodies were found late at night on 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 that evening at 7:49 and landed in South Florida at 11:10 p.m.

That particular craft had also made a stop on Jan. 5 in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, NBC South Florida previously reported.

The sheriff’s statement did not reveal how the teens got into the leading gear or formally state their cause of death.