Jorelys Rivera, 7, was outside playing with her friends on Friday, Dec. 2 when she vanished. Police say Jorelys was on the playground at the River Ridge at Canton Apartment complex when someone abducted, beat, sexually assaulted and murdered the child. An intense search took place throughout the weekend, but there were no clues that led to Jorelys.
On Monday, Dec. 5, authorities removed a trash dumpster on the property and hauled it to a nearby open field. They sifted through the garbage until they reached the bottom of the container. It was there that Jorelys body was discovered.
A press conference later today will determine her official cause of death. Authorities continue to set up road blocks in the area, stopping every car that enters and exits the complex. They’ve also been going from door-to-door interviewing residents. The River Ridge At Canton has 356 apartments on site and it’s possible someone saw something last Friday. Jorelys was last seen around 5 p.m. Grief counselors remain on site at her elementary school to help classmates deal with this tragic loss.
Investigators say Morgan Harrington was only 20-years-old when she vanished from a concert outside the John Paul Jones arena in Charlottesville, VA on October 17, 2009. She was separated from friends around 8:30 p.m. when she walked out of the front entrance of the Metallica concert. Authorities say Morgan called her friends inside and told them she was finding a ride home, and that they shouldn’t wait for her. State police officials report Morgan was last seen by the ticket office on the University Hall side of the building and witnesses report seeing her hitchhicking close to the arena exit road.
In January 2010, three months after she vanished, Morgan’s body was found on a farm in Albemarle County, Virginia. Investigators told me her body could have been on the farm as many as 100 days.
Norma Lopez MISSING (photo of the shirt she was wearing the day she vanished)
Time is ticking on and one month has passed since teenager Norma Lopez was abducted and killed in Moreno Valley, California. Since then, regular classes have resumed at Valley View High and the hunt to find her killer is still active. Police told me Norma left her summer school classes at Valley View and was supposed to meet her sister, but she never made it to the location. Investigators believe she may have taken a short cut from Dracaea Avenue leading out to an area on Cottonwood Avenue, but somewhere in between authorities believe she was kidnapped. In fact, some of her personal belongings were found in a field, and there were signs of a struggle. Investigators believe she was taken against her will and may have been thrown into a newer model green SUV. That vehicle was seen fleeing from the area at a high rate of speed. Deputy Nieburger told me that that vehicle may not necessarily be connected to the murder, but the driver may have seen something. The area where Norma’s body was found is about three miles away from where she went missing, and her remains were in an open field on top of the ground.
Police say Christopher Kyser Miree was shot in his head and left for dead on Friday. Investigators say on April 16, 2010, around 11:30 p.m. they received a call for a medical emergency. When authorities arrived at 4 Macy Place they found Christopher lying in blood. He was rushed to USA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Christopher was the president of Vanderbilt’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He was working at Chevron Corporation in Mobile, Alabama when he was killed. Christopher’s funeral will be held today, 3 p.m. at the Independent Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Christopher’s brother Harry wrote a blog post on Sunday about his family member:
Dear Friends,
Please accept this letter from the bottom of my heart as I don’t yet have the strength to return your loving phone calls and heartfelt messages.
I’ve been staring at this blank page for three hours now. My hands are still trembling uncontrollably. There’s just good no way to share with you the details of my worst nightmare.
A high school principal brought in to change lives at Shaw Middle School in Washington, D.C. was found brutally murdered inside his Maryland home. Investigators are still piecing together the crime and trying to figure out what happened to Brian Betts during his final hours.
The murder was discovered last week when Brian didn’t show up for work. A co-worker drove out to Brian’s Silver Spring, Maryland home where the colleague found a light on in the bathroom. That is when police were notified. When they arrived on location, they discovered Brian’s body. An autopsy was performed and the official cause of death from the Medical Examiner’s office is ruled a homicide. Brian died of a gunshot wound.
Along with items missing from inside his home, police also noticed that Brian’s Nissan Xterra SUV was missing. That vehicle appeared last Friday, sometime between 12-noon and 3:00 p.m. about 14 miles away in Southeast. Fingerprints and evidence arebeing pulled from that vehicle.
Investigators are putting the pieces together and trying to figure out who would set Paula Sladewski on fire and then throw her body in a trash dumpster. Cops say Paula’s body was “burned beyond recognition” and firefighters were called to put out the flames. Police are trying to figure out if this murder was committed out of anger… passion… or to destroy evidence?
Lt. Neal Cuevas with the North Miami Police department told me Paula’s boyfriend, Kevin Klym reported her missing at 10:40 p.m. on Sunday, January 3, 2010. Klym said he hadn’t seen his girlfriend since earlier that morning when he was kicked out of Club Space, a Miami nightclub open all night and all day. Lt. Cuevas says Klym told them Paula was too drunk, and he wanted to leave, an argument erupted – and he was kicked out. Investigators confirmed to me earlier today that they know for sure Klym left the club in a taxi, and went back to the LaFlora Hotel on Collins Avenue where he and Paula were staying. There is not video of Paula ever returning to the hotel.
Investigators are putting the pieces together and trying to figure out who would set Paula Sladewski on fire and then throw her in a trash dumpster.
Cops say Paula’s body was “burned beyond recognition” and firefighters were called to put out the flames at a dumpster fire. Her body was identified a few days later through dental records. Paula is originally from Michigan, and in 2003 she appeared in a video for Playboy. At this time, investigators are calling her boyfriend a “person of interest.”
Police know the couple arrived in Miami on New Year’s Eve with friends, they watched Lady GaGa perform, and had plans to say in Miami throughout the weekend. On January 2, 2009, that Saturday night, the couple went to Club Space – until they got into an argument at 7 a.m. Sunday morning and split up. That’s when cops say she was last seen.
Please contact the North Miami Police department with any information: (305) 891-8111
Michelle Sigona is a crime fighting, victims advocate extraordinaire, but for Michelle -- the good fight doesn't stop there. In her spare time, she is a volunteer firefighter -- and now, she is tackling the issues and cases that mean the most to her....
