WEATHERLY, Pa. (AP) - A judge on Wednesday ordered a retired school bus driver to stand trial in the cold-case slaying of a pregnant New Jersey teenager whose remains were found on a riverbank in eastern Pennsylvania more than four decades ago.
Luis Sierra, 63, of Ozone Park, New York, was charged with homicide in the 1976 death of 15-year-old Evelyn Colon of Jersey City.
Colon was strangled, shot, dismembered and stuffed into three suitcases that were flung over a bridge along Interstate 80 near White Haven in December 1976. Long known as “Beth Doe,” her remains were not identified until 2020, when authorities used a genealogy database to match Colon’s DNA to a relative’s.
Authorities said Sierra and Colon were living together at the time of her disappearance.
Sierra’s attorney, Emmett Madden, argued in court Wednesday that there’s no physical evidence tying Sierra to Colon’s death, calling the homicide charge a “huge reach.”
Carbon County District Attorney Michael Greek told the judge that Colon’s homicide was a “very personal” crime, saying Sierra was “the last person who had contact, to have motive.”
Colon’s brother, Luis Colon of Stroudsburg, called out to Sierra as he was being led into court Wednesday.
“Why did you do that?” he asked.
Relatives told police that Sierra was the father of the unborn child and had been living with her in Jersey City, New Jersey, before her disappearance, according to an arrest affidavit.
When police interviewed Sierra - who was 19 at the time the body was found - he initially denied knowing her, then acknowledged they had dated and she was to have his child, the affidavit said. He told police she left him after an argument, according to court documents.
Colon’s family never reported her missing. The family had received a letter from Stamford, Connecticut, shortly after her disappearance that said, “Evelyn had the baby and was doing well,” and would contact them if she needed anything, the police affidavit said. Sierra told police he authored the letter but could not explain why it would’ve been sent after her death, police said.
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