SAN JOSE — New details have emerged in the death of 3-year-old Ellie Obi Lorenzo, a child who was reported missing from Fremont and later found dead at a recycling facility in San Jose. However, many questions remain.
On Tuesday, investigators with the San Jose Police Department’s Homicide Unit issued a statement laying out what they’ve found out so far.
Ellie was last seen alive with her father, suspect Jared Lorenzo, at a home in Fremont on July 11. From there, Lorenzo drove Ellie to his Fremont apartment. The next day, July 12, he left the apartment around 6 a.m. and drove to the city of San José. He removed Ellie’s body from the trunk of his vehicle and put it into a trash container, according to detectives.
Police suspect that Lorenzo drove to multiple Bay Area cities before stopping in San Francisco, where he was found dead by apparent suicide a little after 11 a.m. that day.
Ellie’s father was supposed to return the girl to her mother that evening under their court-ordered custody arrangement. According to court records, Ellie’s parents had split up and the court was resolving their arrangements for her custody, with a custody settlement conference scheduled for Thursday.
After Ellie’s mother was alerted about Lorenzo’s death, a widespread search for Ellie began.
A San Jose waste company later emptied the container where Ellie’s body was and unknowingly transferred its contents to a recycling facility in the 600 block of Charles Street, according to detectives. Around 4:30 a.m. on July 13, San Jose police were summoned after an employee reported finding a possibly deceased female at the facility. Officers arrived and found that she was not alive. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office did not confirm her to be Ellie until Monday.
There was no obvious cause of death when she was found, San Jose Police Sgt. Jorge Garibay said at a Monday news conference.
“We always want to figure out, why did this happen? Could we have done something to avoid it?” Garibay said. “But in this case, we’ll never make sense of it. The tragic loss of 3-year-old will never make sense.”
Police are investigating the motive and circumstances, and the coroner’s office is investigating the cause and manner of death.
It is being investigated as the city’s 19th homicide of the year.
Anyone with information related to the case can contact the SJPD Homicide Unit at 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Joel Martinez at 4117@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Hans Jorgensen at 4090@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can be also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.
