Dianna Brice.Photo: Go Fund Me
Pennsylvania momDianna Brice, who was four months pregnant with her second child, was found dead on April 5 after last being seen visiting a laundromat with her boyfriend a week earlier.
Now, Tylydiah Garnett, a 21-year-old Philadelphia woman, faces charges in connection with the case, though she is not accused of killing Brice at this time.
At about 5:30 p.m. that day, Smith’s car was found in flames in the area of 59th and Florence Street in Philadelphia.
“This is the same vehicle that both Brice and Smith were last seen in,” the department says in the statement. “It has been determined that there was no operator or passenger with the vehicle.”
Nearly a week later, on April 5, Brice’s body was found in a “debris pile” at 5800 Eastwick Ave. in southwest Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department says in a statement.
Smith is still missing and is considered a person of interest in the case, say police.
The relationship between him, Garnett and Brice is unclear.
Brice’s family’s ordeal began on March 30, when Brice’s mother, Betty Cellini, filed a missing person’s report and told police that her daughter was last seen getting into Smith’s car, a gray Ford Fusion, at the laundromat on Church Lane in Lansdowne, Philadelphia Police say in a statement.
Cellini also said that on the day her daughter vanished,Brice seemed upset before Smith picked her up from the laundromat, but wouldn’t say what was wrong,CBS3 reports.
“He goes, ‘She don’t want to even talk to me.’ I said, ‘I don’t care. She’s pregnant with your child,'” Cellini told the outlet.
Cellini said her daughter was four months pregnant with her second son when she disappeared. She also has a 4-year-old son.
On Saturday morning, the Homicide Fugitive Unit and the FBI Gun Violence Task Force arrested Garnett in connection with Brice’s case, the Philadelphia Police Department says.
She is charged with arson, criminal conspiracy, use of communication facility, abuse of a corpse and other related offenses.
Garnett is being held on $50,000 bail for the arson and abuse charges.
It is unclear whether she has hired an attorney who can speak on her behalf.
She has not yet entered a plea.
Brice’s aunt started a GoFundMe account to help defray the cost ofBrice’s funeral and to start a college fund for her son.
“It’s with heavy heart that I create this,” Melanie Passarella wrote on the GoFundMe page. “My niece Dianna Brice went missing and then was found murdered. We are devastated. We are asking for donations for the unexpected funeral costs. Once that is done the remaining and future donations will be put into college fund for her son AJ. Thank you so much for everyone’s love and support during this difficult time.”
source: people.com
