Dead men tell no lies. This saying became sadly true for a young teen girl after witnessing her father’s murder.
A New York teen who witnessed her father’s murder and had been missing since May has been found dead.
A statement was released on Buffalo Police Department’s Facebook page. It stated that 18-year-old Jalia Marrero’s body was discovered by homicide detectives in a wooded area in Buffalo, N.Y., on June 6.
The identity of Jalia, a high school student weeks away from graduation, was confirmed by the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office, however a cause of death has not yet been released.
Jalia was first reported missing May 21 but was believed to have been last seen by family members around May 9 or 10, police said. It wasn’t clear who reported her missing.
The victim’s family said police informed them Jalia had been dead for quite some time before her body was found buried in a shallow grave in the woods.
The police reported that before Jalia’s disappearance, she had witnessed the murder of her father, 39-year-old Luis Marrero, who was shot to death in an apartment on May 4.
The family confirmed that she had cooperated with the police and gave a testimony of what she had witnessed during the incident.
The family said, “We lost contact with Jalia days after Luis’ killing.”
“That’s when we started to get worried,” an unidentified cousin of Luis’ said.
Family members claim they know who killed both Luis and Jalia, however no arrests have been made in the murders.
However, police have not discussed motive in connection with the killings. The investigation is still ongoing and evidence is still being collected.