California authorities have disclosed that a three-year-old girl whose body was discovered at a recycling factory was killed by her father before he committed suicide.
Patrol officers from the San José Police Department responded to a complaint of a suspicious incident at a recycling business in the 600 block of Charles Street, according to a press release.
An employee alerted authorities after discovering a possibly deceased female in the facility’s processing area. The Fremont Police Department was searching for missing Ellie Obi Lorenzo at the time. On July 15, the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office positively identified the victim as Ellie. Police have named Jared Lorenzo as the father who murdered his three-year-old daughter.
Ellie was last seen with her father at a residence in Fremont on the evening of July 11. She was reported missing by her mother the next day.
According to authorities, Lorenzo left his Fremont residence just after 6 p.m. on July 12. He traveled to San José, where he pulled Ellie’s body from the trunk of his car and disposed of it in a garbage can.
The garbage firm later emptied it and accidentally relocated it to the Charles Street site, according to a police news release. “Further police evidence suggests that suspect Lorenzo drove to multiple neighboring Bay Area cities and finally stopped in the city of San Francisco, where he was found deceased shortly after 11,” the investigators reported.
The motive and circumstances are still being investigated. The incident is being investigated as the city’s 19th homicide in 2024.