Philadelphia — Police discovered the remains of a missing pregnant woman and quickly arrested the father of her unborn child Saturday, ending an exhaustive, monthlong search.
Dist. Atty. Lynne M. Abraham said Stephen Poaches would be charged with two counts of murder and related offenses for the deaths of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa and her fetus.
Authorities did not provide a motive or say what led them to suspect Poaches, 25, who police said was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a pistol when he was arrested.
The remains were recovered in a grassy, partially wooded lot in Chester, 13 miles from Philadelphia. A few dozen members of the Figueroa family and supporters arrived at the scene shortly after daybreak, clustering close to the police tape and embracing each other.
"Now she can rest in peace," said the woman's father, Melvin Figueroa. "All I want is justice with that peace."
The woman's uncle, Jose Figueroa, said as terrible as the discovery of the body was, it puts an end to the weeks of fear and not knowing about LaToyia, who was five months pregnant at the time of the disappearance. "We can actually try to go back to a normal life," he said.
The case attracted a brief flurry of television attention after several Philadelphia-area bloggers waged a campaign urging networks to give the same attention to Fugueroa, who is black and Hispanic, as they did to Natalee Holloway, a white woman who disappeared in Aruba.
Poaches' lawyer, Michael Coard, has repeatedly spoken to journalists on behalf of his client, including national television appearances in which he noted that Poaches has spoken to investigators voluntarily and that he has consented to have his home and his vehicle searched.
Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said Saturday that Coard's public relations moves would not hold up.
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trueninetiesgirl (anonymous) says…
mat the family have some closure and they lost may they forever rest in peace and may god have no merce on the person responsible for there deaths,sorry to hear of your terrible loss.
trueninetiesgirl (anonymous) says…
may for mat and and the instead of they sorry