Missing pregnant mother’s body found in wooded area of Philadelphia; boyfriend sought in murder case
04/06/2021 10:40 am PDT
PHILADELPHIA (TCD) --
A young pregnant mother who went missing a week ago was found dead in a wooded area of Philadelphia, and police were searching for her boyfriend, named a person of interest in the woman’s murder.
Upper Darby Township Police officers responded to a report of a missing endangered person on Tuesday, March 30.
Dianna Brice, 21, was last seen at the K Laundry laundromat at 544 Church Lane in Lansdowne, Pa., at about 1 p.m. that day.
Brice was last seen leaving the laundromat with her boyfriend, 23-year-old Justin Smith, in Smith’s vehicle, police said.
Smith’s vehicle was found on fire at about 5:30 p.m. later that day near 59th Street and Florence Ave. in Philadelphia, approximately a mile and a half away from the laundromat. Police said the vehicle was found unoccupied.
Dianna Brice was described as a 21-year-old Black woman standing 4 feet 11 inches tall, weighing about 190 pounds. She was last seen wearing black short-sleeve T-shirt, black sweatpants, and pink and blue Ugg boots. She has multiple tattoos, including: a small black heart tattoo on her right hand; a Mickey Mouse glove with the letters “AJ” on her left forearm; a rose on her left shoulder and another on her right ankle; the word “NANNY” on her left shoulder; and “My Brother’s Keeper” on her chest.
Police said Brice took daily medication and had not been taking it.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday Dianna Brice’s body was found late Monday, April 5, after police tracked her cellphone.
Police found a body about 11 p.m. Monday, and forensic investigators identified it as Brice’s hours later, the Inquirer reports. The Inquirer reports Brice’s body was found in a wooded area near 58th Street and Eastwick Avenue in southwest Philadelphia, according to a private investigator working with Brice’s family.
Her cause of death was not released.
Brice, mother of a 4-year-old son, was pregnant.
Justin Smith remained missing, police said.
Brice’s body was found about a mile away from the burning car, a 2018 black Ford Fusion.
Upper Darby Police said the investigation of Brice’s death is now being handled by Philadelphia police and is being treated as a murder case.
WPVI-TV reports Upper Darby Police said Justin Smith is a person of interest in Brice’s death.
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