The U.S. Marshals Service is on the hunt Wednesday for a “lifelong criminal” accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and then burying her in a shallow grave in Philadelphia.
A total of $25,000 in rewards is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Geovanni Otero, 29, after the body of Melody Rivera was discovered in Philadelphia’s Fox Chase neighborhood last month. Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that Rivera’s death was ruled a homicide by violence.
“Our fugitive task force was built exactly to find people like Geovanni Otero. Somebody with a significant criminal history. He’s been a lifelong criminal since the age of 12 years old,” Clark said.
“My best advice to him would be turn himself in, otherwise eventually he is going to come face to face with members of the Marshals task force wherever he is,” Clark added. “He is a dangerous individual and needs to be removed from society.”
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The motive for the killing is unclear, but police say Otero had a dispute with Rivera before the 29-year-old vanished on Oct. 31, according to WPVI.
The station, citing records and police, reported that Otero was recently released from state prison for a firearms offense and stopped communicating with his parole officer following Rivera’s death.
The Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
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Rivera’s family told Fox29 Philadelphia that she leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter and described her as funny, loving and kind.
“We went every single day, hours, hours at a time looking for my sister,” family member Martha Lee Fred said to the station. “She didn’t deserve to be buried in a park. She didn’t deserve that.”
The U.S. Marshals Service says Otero goes by the alias “Gozer” and describes him as being 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 175 pounds.
“He has black hair, brown eyes, and tattoos covering the top of both hands and a tattoo of a dagger behind his left ear,” it added. “His last known address was in the 5800 block of N. Park Avenue in Philadelphia.”
“The U.S. Marshals Service Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force is the lead investigative agency tasked with apprehending Otero for the murder and state parole warrants,” the Marshals Service also said.
