Decades-old murder mystery solved with arrest of Queens man (Luis Sierra, 63) in 1976 slaying of Jersey teen (Evelyn Colon, 15)

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https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...e7y-story.html

A Queens man was arrested in the 44-year-old cold case murder of a teenage girl dumped on a Pennsylvania river bank in December 1976, authorities announced Thursday.

Suspect Luis Sierra, 63, of Ozone Park, was taken into custody Wednesday to end the long and frustrating probe into the teen's death, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

The suspect remained behind bars as Pennsylvania authorities worked on his extradition to faces charges in the death of Evelyn Colon, 15, of Jersey City, who was found during the year of the nation's bicentennial near the Lehigh River alongside a near full-term fetus, said state police.

The victim, known only as 'Beth Doe' after her body was recovered, was finally identified and authorities were able to link Sierra with the death, officials said. Sierra was just 19 at the time of the gruesome discovery.

The remains were discovered in three suitcases left beneath an overpass on Route 80 in Carbon County, about 130 miles east of Queens. The cause was quickly ruled a homicide, with investigators stymied in their efforts to locate the killer. But the long-cold case took off once authorities put a name to the body.

'Numerous interviews and investigational processes were conducted following the identification which led to the development of a suspect,' state police said in their release.

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Nephew’s DNA helps close cold-case murder of 15-year-old aunt killed seven years before his birth

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...7eq-story.html

The nephew of a cold-case murder victim, born seven years after her gruesome 1976 slaying, helped put her accused killer behind bars.

Louis Colon Jr. told the Daily News how his DNA sample, sent to multiple ancestry websites, led to a recent call from Pennsylvania State Police and the Wednesday arrest of long-sought murder suspect Luis Sierra, 63, of Queens.

“He lived his whole adult life thinking he got away with it,” said Colon, 37, of Houston. “Little did he know that her future nephew (who) never met her would upload his DNA, and that would lead to his arrest.”

Cops said the match between the nephew’s sample and DNA from 15-year-old murder victim Evelyn Colon’s femur eventually steered them to Sierra, who disappeared after the slaying only five days before Christmas 1976. The victim, buried in a grave marked Beth Doe, remained unidentified for the next 44 years.

Sierra, the married father of two, was busted on a homicide charge at his Ozone Park home for the horrifying slaying of his teen girlfriend. The girl’s dismembered body, along with the fetus of her unborn daughter, was found beneath an interstate highway overpass on the banks of the Lehigh River on Dec. 20, 1976.

“The whole thing is just incredible,” said Colon. “All the twists and turns. All of our family is distraught. It’s been traumatizing.”

The arrest brought back the grim details of the killing, with the pregnant teen strangled, dismembered and packed into three suitcases before her remains were tossed by the murderer, authorities said. Sierra went on with his life as if nothing happened, with his current neighbors shocked by word of his arrest.

Colon recalled a letter sent to his family a month after the disappearance, with the victim supposedly explaining that she was living in Connecticut with her newborn son Luis Jr. Investigators determined the victim was likely not the person who wrote and sent the message intended to quell any family concerns.

“The letter indicated that if Evelyn needed anything, she would contact the family,” said an affidavit detailing the arrest of Sierra.

Court papers detailed the killing, with the victim decapitated by a murderer who went on to cut off her arms, legs, nose and ears. For the family, the arrest marked the end of decades mourning the lost teen and the baby who died with her, who they have now named Emily Grace Colon.

“It’s overwhelming,” said the victim’s niece Miriam Colon Vetlman, 33. “Her memory was always very present in our family ... Our DNA is hers. It’s crazy. It’s amazing. How is it possible?”