US Marshals hunt for man suspected of killing woman, burying body in shallow grave
Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun Staff
(PHILADELPHIA) — U.S. Marshals are on the hunt for a man they say killed a 29-year-old woman and then buried her body in a shallow grave, according to authorities.
The U.S. Marshals Service Eastern Pennsylvania Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force is asking for the public’s assistance in locating 29-year-old Geovanni Otero, who authorities say a warrant for murder out for his arrest, according to a statement from the U.S. Marshals on Monday.
“On November 27, a warrant murder and related charges was issued by the Philadelphia Police Department and Otero is also wanted for violation of his Pennsylvania State Parole. Otetro is charged with killing 29-year-old Melody Rivera in early November,” the U.S. Marshals said. “Her body was found in a shallow grave in the 900 block of Tustin Road in Philadelphia’s Fox Chase section of the city.”
Otero is approximately 5-foot-10 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds, officials said. He has black hair, brown eyes and tattoos covering the top of both hands as well as a tattoo of a dagger behind his left ear, police said. His last known address was in the 5800 block of N. Park Avenue in Philadelphia.
The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to Otero’s arrest and authorities say the reward will be “processed immediately upon arrest and not upon conviction.”
“Geovanni Otero is officially charged with the homicide of Melody Rivera. We are hoping the public can provide information that will assit us in removing this lifelong criminal from society,” said Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark.
The U.S. Marshals Service Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force is the lead investigative agency tasked with apprehending Otero for the murder and state parole warrants.
(ATHENS, Ga.) — Police questioned the man accused of killing Laken Riley about multiple scratches on his arms a day after the 22-year-old nursing student was found murdered on the University of Georgia’s campus, body camera footage played Monday during the suspect’s bench trial showed.
Police spoke to the defendant, Jose Ibarra, who is an undocumented migrant, at his apartment in Athens on Feb. 23, while investigating Riley’s death. The Augusta University student was found beaten in a wooded area on the Athens campus on Feb. 22 after she didn’t return from a run, authorities said. Her brutal death became a rallying cry for immigration reform from many conservatives, including President-elect Donald Trump.
Special prosecutor Sheila Ross said last week that Ibarra was “hunting” for women on the campus and encountered Riley while she was on her run. Ross said the evidence shows an extended struggle ensued and Riley “fought for her life” before dying due to blunt force trauma and asphyxiation. Ibarra’s DNA was found under Riley’s fingernails, according to Ross.
Officers questioned Ibarra in connection with the murder after a suspicious jacket was found in a dumpster near his apartment, Ross said. Ring camera footage captured a man discarding the jacket, which had Riley’s hair on it, in the dumpster at 9:44 a.m. on Feb. 22, about 16 minutes after she died, Ross said.
University of Georgia Police Sgt. Joshua Epps testified Monday that he noticed a scratch on Ibarra’s right bicep while questioning him at his apartment.
“On his left arm, he had a forearm scratch that was very similar, which in my mind, looked like fingernail scratches to me,” Epps said.
Epps said he also observed a fresh “puncture” on Ibarra’s left wrist.
Prosecutors entered into evidence on Monday photos of Ibarra’s scratches on his arms and bruising on his palm.
Body camera footage of the officers’ questioning Ibarra was also played in court.
When asked about what happened to his right bicep, Ibarra told officers that he had a scratch but “didn’t exactly explain from where or how,” University of Georgia officer Rafael Sayan, who was called to translate during the questioning, testified on Monday.
When asked what happened to his left wrist, Ibarra first said he didn’t have anything there, then said, “It’s just a scratch,” according to Sayan.
When asked why his knuckle was red, Ibarra said it was because of the cold, Sayan said.
Ibarra was detained following the questioning, Epps said. He was arrested that day on murder charges in connection with Riley’s death.
During testimony on Monday, one of Ibarra’s roommates identified Ibarra as the man discarding the jacket in the dumpster, based on his cap and loafers.
Ibarra, 26, has pleaded not guilty to malice murder and felony murder.
Police have said they believe Ibarra — a migrant from Venezuela who officials said illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 — did not know Riley and that this was a “crime of opportunity.”
Additional charges in the 10-count indictment include aggravated battery, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, obstructing or hindering a person making an emergency telephone call and tampering with evidence. The latter charge alleged that he “knowingly concealed” evidence — including the jacket found in the dumpster — involving the offense of malice murder.
Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial. The case is being presented in the Athens-Clarke County courtroom to Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who will render a verdict.
(NEW YORK) — A man in Altoona, Pennsylvania, was stopped with a fake New Jersey ID and is being held for questioning in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The man had walked into a McDonald’s where a witness recognized him from the images circulated by police, sources said.
The man had a similar gun to the one used in Wednesday’s assassination-style killing outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel, the sources said. Altoona police also recovered a computer.
The NYPD is sending detectives to Altoona, the sources said. Altoona is in central Pennsylvania, about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh.
Before the shooting, the suspected gunman checked into an Upper West Side hostel using a New Jersey license that wasn’t his own, police sources told ABC News.
Meanwhile, new video obtained by ABC News shows the killer waiting for Thompson moments before the shooting. The video shows others pass by, and then, when the masked gunman sees Thompson, he runs across the street and opens fire.
The video, which has not previously been seen publicly, appears to support the police narrative that the shooter targeted Thompson because he loitered while others wandered by.
Police haven’t established a motive but said they haven’t uncovered evidence that would show the killing had anything to do with Thompson’s private life.
On Wednesday morning, the masked gunman shot Thompson at point-blank range outside the New York Hilton Midtown, where Thompson’s company was holding an investors conference. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the attack as “brazen” and “targeted.”
Right after the shooting, the suspect fled by bike through Central Park to the Upper West Side. He then took a taxi to the Port Authority bus facility at 178th Street and boarded a bus out of New York City, according to police.
NYPD officials released new images this weekend of the suspect in the back of a taxi, where he could be seen peering through the open slider in the partition between the seats. Another photo appeared to show the man walking by the window of a cab.
The FBI is assisting the nationwide manhunt, according to law enforcement sources.
NYPD detectives arrived this weekend in Georgia. Investigators have said the suspect arrived in New York on Nov. 24 on a bus that originated Atlanta, although it’s unclear if his travels began in Atlanta.
In New York on Sunday, members of the New York Police Department’s dive team searched underwater in Central Park near the Bethesda Fountain.
(WASHINGTON) — The Rainbow Youth Project, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, typically fields about 800 calls a month on its crisis outreach hotline. In just 10 days, as the 2024 presidential election came to a head, the organization told ABC News it received roughly 5,400.
Organizers say they were prepared for calls to spike given that the LGBTQ community — and specifically the transgender population — has been a subject of debate in this election cycle. But they weren’t prepared for the overwhelming call volume.
Some callers had to wait on hold over the weekend for operators — something they’ve never had to do before, Executive Director Lance Preston said in an interview. Callers weren’t just from the LGBTQ residents in need themselves; Preston’s staff were fielding calls from parents, grandparents, teachers, pastors and others asking how they can help their community members.
“I think it’s been a wake-up call for a lot of people,” Preston said in an interview.
The Rainbow Youth Project is not alone; LGBTQ hotlines nationwide are seeing massive surges amid the fallout of the election, as LGBTQ Americans and their loved ones search for answers, reassurance and guidance about future LGBTQ rights in America.
The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization, said it saw an overall crisis outreach volume increase of nearly 700% on Nov. 6, compared to the weeks prior.
“It’s just a general sense of fear, a sense of panic from young people who are reaching out; youth reporting feeling hopeless or helpless about what’s to come,” said Mandy Paul, a senior manager of crisis services at the Trevor Project. She listened to concerns about anti-LGBTQ discrimination, the fate of transgender health care access, and whether LGBTQ policies in Project 2025 — a conservative presidential wish list — would be implemented.
The LGBT National Hotline, another crisis outreach center, told ABC News it has received five times the typical call volume: “It’s been all hands on deck. Here, it is coming from all over the country. However, we are definitely seeing more calls coming from red states, though it’s not a huge amount more than blue states. The fear is from all over the country. It is all ages,” said Aaron Almanza, the program’s executive director.
The Rainbow Youth Project found that typically about 19% of its callers will screen positive for suicidal ideation. Now, for the month of November, that’s up to 31.6% of callers screening for acute mental health crisis with a specific notation of suicidal ideation.
As communities process what the recent elections mean for themselves and their loved ones, counselors and operators urge those who are feeling lonely, confused, helpless or scared to reach out to community members who can be supportive during this time — even if that support is from an LGBTQ hotline. Organizations say they often field calls from rural areas with less local in-person resources like LGBTQ advocacy groups.
“Right now we need to find each other, because that local support is going to be hugely important for us to move forward,” said Almanza.
Paul, who has been at the Trevor Project for six years, found that youth just “want to be heard and supported,” and has called upon allies to be a source for LGBTQ residents during this time.
“We hear that time and time again — it’s just wanting a place where they can share their fears, share, maybe the first time they’re sharing what their identities are in a place that they feel safe to do so.”
Preston encourages those who are experiencing despair to focus on the progress the LGBTQ community has made in recent years. A 2020 Pew Research Center study found that 72% of Americans believe homosexuality should be accepted, compared with just 49% in 2007. Additionally, Pew found that 64% of Americans favor laws that protect transgender individuals from discrimination in jobs, housing and public spaces.
As a gay man who came out in the ’80s amid the fight for anti-employment discrimination policies and marriage equality, Preston notes the amount of progress that LGBTQ advocates have lobbied for in recent years: “We’ve been there. We know how to do this. We’re going to be your voice if you can’t be your own voice.”
States nationwide have seen an increase in legislation and political rhetoric related to the LGBTQ community in recent years. In the 2024 legislative session, the American Civil Liberties Union tracked a record-breaking 532 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures — only about 46 of those have passed into law, with roughly 351 bills defeated.
Some of the most prominent legislative proposals included restrictions on transgender youth health care, trans participation in sports, pronoun changes in schools and classroom content on gender and sex. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will embrace these restrictions during his presidency, calling it “transgender insanity” and declaring that gender is “determined at birth” in his Agenda47 policy proposals focused on schools.
Critics of this legislation said the rhetoric and legislative attacks will increase discrimination facing a small, marginalized community.
“I also want our LGBT+ youth to know that there are millions and millions of people fighting for their right to survive and thrive, and there is an expansive community of LGBTQ+ folks and allies who are shoulder to shoulder with them, and we simply will not give up,” said Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
