PA - LaToyia Figueroa, 24, pregnant, Philadelphia, 18 July 2005

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

At the press conference he said he was called at 2am to make an identification.

Oh, I know - I didn't mean to sound as if I was questioning you. I was just wondering what that could mean as to what has happened over the last month.

Prayers for this family. I can't even begin to imagine the suffering. God bless Latoyia, her family, and especially her little girl.

 

[SewingDeb]

He had to make an identification? I don't know how to say this without being graphic - I'll give it my best shot.

She's been missing a month and we've had a heat wave nearly every week. How would it be possible for the body to be identifiable? Unless she hasn't been "gone" for a month or she was kept someplace else for a while that would have prevented rapid changes to her body after death?

Perhaps he could identify jewelry or clothing...poor man...that must have been so hard.

 

[fran]

I'm absolutely heart-broken over this development. I feel like I did the day they found Laci and Conner. Until there's a body, there's hope. Now that is gone. I knew in my heart she was gone; but, like the family, there was still hope.

Why? Why murder your own child? Married or not, it's your own flesh and blood. Whatever, these are human beings!

The Peterson case was so widely publicized, why do these people keep thinking they're smarter than everyone else and can get away with it!? There are other ways.

Prayers for Latoyia's family and friends. A special prayer for her precious daughter, another child that will be raised without the loving embrace of her mom because someone decided she didn't deserve to live.

Sadly, JMHO
fran

 

[ketel0ne]

MSNBC is opening the 11am EST hour with a full update on Latoyia's case, and then some coverage of Amanda Jones as well.

 

[ketel0ne]

Stephen Pouches has been charged with 2 counts of murder.

 

[fran]

Stephen Pouches has been charged with 2 counts of murder.

I heard that absolut. Does Pennsylvania have the death penalty?

fran

 

[ketel0ne]

Yes they do, but they seem to have a tendency to keep people on death row rather than enforce it. There are 221 people on death row in PA. 1978 the death penalty was reenacted, PA has executed 3 since then. The first was in 1995, the last was in 1999 all 3 waived their appeals.

http://teacher.deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu/c/states/stats/pennsylvania.htm

 

[mysteriew]

The suspect, Stephen Poaches, is a former boyfriend of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa, who has been missing for a month. When Poaches, 25, was arrested in nearby Chester, police said he was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a pistol.

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.

"Our hearts our broken ... we just want to spend some time here and take a look at this place where LaToyia unfairly was murdered," said a cousin of Figueroa, Philadelphia City Councilman Juan Ramos.
http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/id/D8C3KARO0

 

[englishleigh]

Not to be gross...but I don't think her body had been there a long time...I don't think if she was able to be identified that she'd been dead for a month or had been kept somehow where she would not decompose as rapidly...I also wonder why, if she was found "near homes", that someone had not...not be gross, again...smelled her before now?

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Not to be gross...but I don't think her body had been there a long time...I don't think if she was able to be identified that she'd been dead for a month or had been kept somehow where she would not decompose as rapidly...I also wonder why, if she was found "near homes", that someone had not...not be gross, again...smelled her before now?

The story seems to be that LE saw the perp trying to move the body. LE wouldn't comment on it much. So this may or may not be the location of the body over the past month.

 

[Amraann]

Investigators today found the remains of a missing 24-year-old pregnant woman and arrested her former boyfriend who authorities say will face murder charges in the case. Philadelphia police recovered LaToyia Figueroa's body in Chester, about 13 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Figueroa was five months' pregnant when she disappeared in July.

 

[fran]

The suspect, Stephen Poaches, is a former boyfriend of 24-year-old LaToyia Figueroa, who has been missing for a month. When Poaches, 25, was arrested in nearby Chester, police said he was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a pistol.

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.
http://www.mymotherlode.com/News/article/id/D8C3KARO0

What a :chicken: this guy is. I thought he was wearing the vest and the gun in case LE came upon him. Ehhhhh, nope.........he was afraid of her family. Apparently they had threatened him.

Every time he talked to them he had a different story, :liar: What a :loser: not to realize he was being watched.

JMHO
fran

 

[Mabel]

I'm very sorry to hear this, but I suppose it was just a matter of time before she was found. They say the baby's father/murderer was wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying a gun when arrested.

 

[lavenderdreams79]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050820/ap_on_re_us/missing_pregnant_woman

 

[Cypros]

I was also wondering how the body's location could have remained a secret all of this time being so close to houses. The stench (sorry) would have been horrible. I'm guessing that he and his accomplice were depositing the body there after moving it from its original location.

 

[kk's mom]

I didn't hear this until this morning. That is so sad. I had been so hoping that she would be found alive, but realized that was unlikely. My sympathy goes out to her family, especially to her child. I hope if the girlfriend was in on it, even in the planning, that they arrest her too. How do these people think they can get away with something like this?

This area is only about 40 min from where I live. This is so sad. I know early in this investigation it was said that about a week or two before LaToya went missing that this current girlfriend and some of her friends confronted LaToya on a street and this girl kicked LaToya in the stomach. I'm sure she knew what this guy did.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I was also wondering how the body's location could have remained a secret all of this time being so close to houses. The stench (sorry) would have been horrible. I'm guessing that he and his accomplice were depositing the body there after moving it from its original location.

That is what I was thinking too. Regardless, she had to be somewhat decomposed. I can't imagine handling a body that was decomposing. The creep must have had her somewhere that he knew there was a good chance of her body being discovered. Hopefully the family's threats forced him to move her body...and get caught.

I'm sure glad that they caught the creep right in the act. No way in hell can he get out of this. It seems that criminals sit on death row for years everywhere. When a person is caught red handed or if there is no doubt that they committed the crime they should be put to death right after the sentencing. There is no chance that DNA will clear them somewhere down the road so why let them live a moment longer than is necessary.

Remember the creep whinning on some programs in his city about being blamed...whine...whine...whine!! He didn't sound like he was to bright....and he wasn't.

 

[angelmom]

I am so sad. I cannot imagine the pain for her poor father, daughter, and other loved ones. I hope they were able to identify jewelry or, perhaps, a close up photo of a tattoo or something (can't remember if she had one, but maybe that wouldn't have been as gruesome).

ITA with previous posters who wonder what in the world made this guy think he would get away with this murder. How dumb can all these men be??? Do they really think no one will suspect? :slap: Do the words "DEATH ROW" mean nothing anymore?

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Angelmom, Latoyia did have a tattoo - I think it was the word "angel" tattooed around her wrist. I also hope that the tattoo or jewelry or clothing was what was used to ID. It's a task that no parent should ever be faced with.

 

[concernedperson]

I was also wondering how the body's location could have remained a secret all of this time being so close to houses. The stench (sorry) would have been horrible. I'm guessing that he and his accomplice were depositing the body there after moving it from its original location.

It seems from the late reporting that she was killed at this site and that is why LE couldn't find any other traces in his home.In a relatively rural area there can be many things going on, animal carcasses, skunks, sewage from septic tanks, etc. and no one would send off alarm bells if this was a fairly common occurance.