Composite images created to help identify the unknown body which turned out to be Evelyn Colon (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)
April 2, 2021 By Allie Griffin
A 63-year-old Ozone Park man was arrested this week for the brutal murder of a pregnant teenage girl that took place 44 years ago.
Luis Sierra was arrested in Queens Wednesday for allegedly killing 15-year-old Evelyn Colon of Jersey City and her near full-term fetus in 1976.
Sierra, who was 19-years-old at the time, allegedly dismembered Colon’s body, stuffed her body parts in three suitcases and threw them into the Lehigh River in Carbon County, Penn.
Her body was found on the riverbank on Dec. 20, 1976. However, cops were unable to identify her at the time and she was referred to as “Beth Doe” for more than four decades.
Pennsylvania State Police, however, were able to identify her last year — when they caught a break through DNA testing. They were able to identify her remains based on a DNA match to Colon’s nephew.
Police — at the time they found her body — said that Colon had been sexually assaulted, strangled and shot in the neck. Her nose, ears and breasts were removed, as well as her unborn fetus.
The DNA match prompted another investigation, which led them to identify Sierra as a suspect.
“Numerous interviews and investigational processes were conducted following her identification which led to the development of a suspect,” the Pennsylvania State Police said in a press release.
Sierra and Colon were dating and living together in Jersey City at the time of her murder, according to local outlets. Sierra is believed to have been the father of Colon’s unborn daughter.
The Ozone Park resident was arraigned on one count of criminal homicide Wednesday at Queens Criminal Court, according to the New York Daily News. He was held without bail and is awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania, where the case will be tried.
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