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Post by Sher on Jul 28, 2005 16:14:47 GMT -5
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Community leaders asked for help in finding a pregnant woman who has been missing for more than a week, offering a $10,000 reward for information about her whereabouts.
LaToyia Figueroa, 24, is five months pregnant and has a 7-year-old daughter, and friends and relatives said she would never abandon the girl voluntarily.
She was last seen walking from a friend's house in Philadelphia on July 18 after going to a doctor's appointment. Police said she remained missing Thursday and have declined to speculate about what happened to her.
Her cell phone has gone quiet since that day and her bank has not recorded any transactions, officials said.
Christine Lewes, a childhood friend and high school classmate, said Figueroa was very responsible and had never missed shifts at her restaurant job until her disappearance.
"It's unusual for her to do something like this. She's not the type of person to just disappear," Joseph Taylor, an uncle, said. "So far, there's nothing that gives me hope, from what I'm hearing."
Police said the father of the unborn child has been cooperating with investigators. Police said they do not have suspects or a motive.
Another uncle who is a police officer, Jose Figueroa, said Wednesday, "It's hard to see a young lady her age go missing. It's hard to imagine a young lady of 24 just disappear out of thin air."
The Citizens Crime Commission of Delaware Valley offered the reward on Wednesday.
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Post by Sher on Jul 28, 2005 16:15:06 GMT -5
Anyone with information about LaToyia Figueroa is asked to call the Philadelphia Southwest detective division at 215-686-3183.
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Post by Sher on Aug 5, 2005 8:28:19 GMT -5
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Post by Sher on Aug 25, 2005 23:44:40 GMT -5
Sad news has been reported in the Latoyia Figueroa case.
Latoyia’s body has been found, apparently while her ex-boyfriend, Stephen Pouches, was trying to dump her remains.
It was reported that police had been following Stephen Pouches when just after midnight Saturday, Stephen Pouches was found disposing of Latoyia’s remains in a wooded lot with homes nearby in an area of Chester, just outside of Philadelphia.
When Pouches was found and arrested, he was wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying a pistol.
Pouches has been arrested and will be charged in the death of Latoyia Figueroa and their unborn child. Currently that is two counts of murder as well as other related charges not yet reported. Police do not yet have a motive.
Latoyia had been missing since July 18 and there had been no clues reported in the news of her whereabouts. This past month her father and other family members have searched for her endlessly.
Latoyia leaves behind a 7-year-old daughter.
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Post by Sher on Aug 25, 2005 23:45:50 GMT -5
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former boyfriend of LaToyia Figueroa, a pregnant woman whose month-long disappearance attracted national attention, will be charged with her death, authorities said Saturday.
Stephen Poaches, 25, of West Philadelphia, the father of her unborn baby, was to be charged with two counts of murder and related offenses for the deaths of the 24-year-old woman and her fetus, District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham said Saturday. Abraham said the charges were still being prepared and she did not know exactly what the other charges would be.
At a news conference Saturday in Philadelphia, held just hours after the discovery of the body before dawn in nearby Chester, authorities did not say what led them to conclude that Poaches was responsible.
"We don't want to try the case today," Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said. "It's a very complex investigation and it's just really starting. We just don't want to have the arrest; we want to have the conviction. And I'm sure with the district attorney's office and everybody else who's involved that we will get the conviction."
When Poaches was arrested in Chester, about 13 miles southwest of Philadelphia, police said he was wearing a bulletproof vest and was carrying a .45 caliber automatic pistol.
Poaches' lawyer, Michael Coard, has repeatedly spoken to journalists on behalf of Poaches, including national television appearances in which he noted that Poaches has spoken to investigators voluntarily and that he has consented to have his home and his vehicle searched. Johnson said Saturday that Coard's public relations moves would not hold up.
"He has an attorney who has basically tried this case in the news media and has depicted him to be innocent. We are saying today that he is not innocent and we are going to convict him and he will go to whatever he deserves to get," Johnson said.
Coard did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment after Saturday's news conference.
LaToyia Figueroa's father, Melvin Figueroa, said he was relieved that an arrest had been made.
"Now she can rest in peace," he said. "All I want is justice with that peace."
Melvin Figueroa's brother, Jose Figueroa, said as terrible as the discovery of the body, it puts an end to the weeks of fear and not knowing.
"We can actually try to go back to a normal life," he said.
Figueroa, who was five months' pregnant when she disappeared and already the mother of a young girl, was last seen on the afternoon of July 18 in West Philadelphia. Police received a missing persons report July 21.
The remains were recovered in a grassy, partially wooded lot near homes and a road in Chester. The area was cordoned off by yellow police tape Saturday morning.
A few dozen members of the Figueroa family and supporters arrived at the scene shortly after daybreak, clustering close to the police tape and embracing each other.
Relatives and friends, who have papered the city with flyers and held large-scale searches for any sign of Figueroa, had just marked the one-month anniversary of her disappearance. A reward fund for information had reached $100,000.
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Post by Sher on Aug 25, 2005 23:46:50 GMT -5
PHILADELPHIA-August 23, 2005 - Investigators now say Latoyia Figueroa's ex-boyfriend killed her because she wouldn't end her pregnancy and another person will soon be arrested in connection with the crime.
Twenty-five-year-old Stephen Poaches was arrested over the weekend.
Sources say he has confessed to killing Figueroa and her unborn child. In the confession, Poaches allegedly says he strangled the 24-year-old woman in a rage when she told him she did not believe in abortion.
Police say another man helped Poaches dispose of the body. Now, detectives say they're close to arresting that other man. Investigators also say Poaches told them he was thinking about murdering another man - a man he asked to help move the body over the weekend. Instead, that man tipped off police to the location of Figueroa's body.
Services for Latoyia Figueroa are set for later this week. Thursday evening, a viewing and memorial service will be held at the Victory-Christian Center, at 5220 Whitby Avenue. Friday morning, another viewing, followed by funeral services, will be held at Saint Peter the Apostle Church, at 5th and Girard.
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