Fitchburg man accused of murdering Jeremiah Oliver arraigned, held with out bail

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Alberto L. Sierra Jr. allegedly killed the 5-year-old after Oliver went lacking in 2013. The kid’s physique was present in a suitcase on the facet of a freeway in 2014.

Alberto Sierra Jr., 32, is lead right into a courtroom in Worcester Superior Court docket throughout his arraignment for homicide and disinterring of a physique, for the 2013 killing of Jeremiah Oliver, a 5-year-old from Fitchburg, whose physique was present in a suitcase on the facet of the highway in Sterling. Josh Reynolds/The Boston Globe

  • Man charged with killing Jeremiah Oliver, younger boy who went lacking in 2013

  • Girl whose son’s physique was present in suitcase close to freeway pleads responsible to abuse

The person charged with killing Jeremiah Oliver, the Fitchburg 5-year-old who went lacking in late 2013, was arraigned Thursday. 

Alberto L. Sierra Jr., 32, of Fitchburg was ordered held with out bail, in keeping with the Worcester County District Legal professional’s workplace. He’s scheduled to return to court docket on Might 25. 

Sierra was indicted by a grand jury on a homicide cost and one other cost of disinterring a physique. Oliver’s physique was discovered on April 18, 2014 in a suitcase off of I-190 in Sterling. 

A murder investigation has been ongoing for years. The Workplace of the Chief Medical Examiner decided that Oliver’s dying was a murder “of undetermined etiology.”

Oliver’s disappearance and the investigation that adopted drew huge scrutiny of the state’s Division of Kids and Households. The company’s commissioner resigned within the wake of revelations {that a} DCF social employee was discovered to have skipped eight necessary month-to-month visits with Oliver, which partly coincided with the time during which he went lacking. 

Sierra, who was the boyfriend of Oliver’s mom across the time he disappeared, was first charged with kidnapping and assaulting Oliver. In 2017, he pleaded responsible to assaulting Oliver’s mom and siblings. Prosecutors dropped the earlier fees in opposition to him to make it possible for double jeopardy wouldn’t forestall future murder prosecution, they mentioned on the time. 

Sierra was launched from jail in 2020, The Lowell Solar reported.

Originally posted 2023-05-18 17:39:58.