Jeremiah Oliver (as pictured in missing person poster), the scene where he was found in a suitcase (WCVB screengrab), and suspect Alberto Sierra Jr. (WBZ screengrab)
Prosecutors in Massachusetts finally have an answer as to who murdered a 5-year-old boy found stuffed in a suitcase off of I-190 nearly a decade ago.
Alberto L. Sierra Jr., 32, pleaded not guilty in court Thursday after he was indicted by a grand jury in the "homicidal violence" death of Jeremiah Oliver, a Fitchburg boy last seen alive in late 2013 and found dead in a suitcase off the interstate on April 18, 2014, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. announced. At the time of the boy's death, Sierra was the boyfriend of Elsa Oliver, the victim's mother.
Fitchburg Police Chief Ernest Martineau told press gathered outside the courthouse that he was still a sergeant when the investigation into Jeremiah's disappearance and death began. The police chief said the phone call he received informing him of Sierra's arrest is one he waited for a decade.
"We made a commitment 10 years ago that we would never give up and we would never forget and that came to fruition yesterday," Martineau said.
He called the case haunting to any parent.
"Anything that happens to a child just eats at your soul," he said.
The medical examiner concluded that Oliver was the victim of "homicidal violence of undetermined etiology." Etiology refers to the "cause, set of causes, or manner of causation of a disease or condition," according to the dictionary definition of the term.
Jeremiah Oliver's death exposed serious issues in the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, leading to a damning independent report, firings and a review of processes for responding to abuse and neglect cases.
Although the Child Welfare League of America did not conclude DCF "was responsible for Jeremiah's death or that DCF could have prevented the tragic outcome," the group behind the quality improvement report did say "there is significant evidence that some DCF staff did not do their jobs" and that "DCF and many of the adults in Jeremiah's life failed to protect him."
The report found that one DCF worker even lied about visiting Oliver's home in September 2013, the month and year that the boy was first considered missing and last seen alive.
"In September 2013, DCF undertook an agency-wide review of all cases involving children ages 0 – 5, who were living at home. The Oliver family's case was part of this review. False information was given concerning the status of the family/case, and eventually it became known that the DCF Worker had not made a home visit during September 2013," the report said.
Jeremiah's mother and Alberto Sierra have both served prison time in recent years, but not for abusing the 5-year-old boy. While Sierra was convicted as recently as 2017 of abusing Jeremiah's siblings and the boy's mother, Elsa Oliver pleaded guilty the same year to abusing and endangering her two other children, MassLive reported.
Sierra now faces charges of murder and disinterring of a body, prosecutors said. The defendant was ordered held without bail at his Thursday arraignment. The suspect is expected back in court next Thursday, May 25, prosecutors said.