A Massachusetts man has been charged with murder in connection with the 2013 killing of 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver, the Fitchburg boy whose remains were found in a suitcase on the side of a highway, according to prosecutors.
Alberto Sierra Jr., 32, the former boyfriend of Jeremiah's mother, Elsa Oliver, was arrested on a warrant Wednesday out of Worcester Superior Court on two charges -- murder and disinterring of a body, the Worcester District Attorney's Office said in a statement. A Worcester County grand jury handed up indictments for both charges earlier in the day.
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Sierra is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Worcester Superior Court.
Sierra had been sentenced to as many as seven years in prison back in 2017 after pleading guilty to abusing Jeremiah's siblings and mother. Elsa Oliver pleaded guilty to endangering the boy's siblings and abusing one of them and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.
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Both were released in 2020, according to the Sentinel & Enterprise.
Sierra's brother, Christian Sierra, was also charged with lying to police about the investigation, along with two others.
Jeremiah was last seen alive in September 2013, but wasn't reported missing until December of that year. His body was found off Interstate 190 in Sterling in April 2014. His death had been ruled a homicide.
The boy’s death sparked a major review of the state’s Department of Children and Families, which eventually underwent an overhaul. Several of the DCF workers assigned to Oliver’s case were fired after it was revealed they had missed visits and appointments.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
