Tag Archives | investigation

Justice for Lily Hunger Strike in Miami

Monday, November 16, 2009 would have been my best friend, Lilly Aramburo’s 26 birthday. Lily has been missing since June 2, 2007. Her plight has been featured on Nancy Grace and Americas Most Wanted.

Lily disappeared from the apartment of her heroin addicted boyfriend in the Dadeland area. Since then, her mother Lucely and I have launched an exhaustive search for her only to become disillusioned and extremely frustrated with the lack of effort of the Miami Dade Police Department.

Police failed to locate two witnesses that were present the night she disappeared. We’ve been working with private investigator Joe Carrillo and his team for over a year locating the two witnesses within days. A convicted killer has been identified by the investigators as a person of interest in her disappearance. After four meetings with the missing persons detectives, a convicted killer who served time for murder has yet to be interviewed even though identified and located by the private investigator. Why? Police refuse to answer the why.

Lily’s mother and I desperately need to bring attention to her disappearance and want answers from the Miami Dade Police Department. We’re both commencing a hunger strike Monday at 9:00 AM in front of the Miami Dade Government Center until we get answers.

Location: Government Center
111 NW 1 Street
Miami, Fl.

We’d like to thank all of you for supporting us in our fight to find Lily and for keeping Lily in your hearts and minds. PLEASE do not stop passing on this blog to all you know! You can also help support the search for Lily by donating to Lily’s reward fund or by purchasing a T-Shirt.

Anyone with information pertaining to the disappearance of Lily Aramburo is urged to contact Private Investigator Joe Carrillo at 305-926-3110 or call Miami Dade Police at 305-418-7200.

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Help Establish National Protocol for Missing and Unidentified Person Cases

Believe or not, in the US,  there is no National Protocol for law enforcement to follow in missing person cases. If we did, we probably wouldn’t have so many unidentified persons and the likelihood of finding missing people would be much improved. Not only that but police would be forced to follow the same guidelines throughout the country. In my opinion,  we should be treating every missing person case as a homicide until we learn otherwise. Unfortunately, law enforcement agencies don’t always do the right thing and often times families are forced to deal with bureaucracy and red tape. Many fail to submit fingerprints, dental records, or DNA for the missing person. This can be prevented.


Read about and vote for National Protocol in Missing and Unidentified Person Cases submitted by Kelly Jolkowski (President and Founder of Project Jason) on Change.org. The legislation provides law enforcement with a check list of information to acquire from the family of the missing person, databases and other resources to utilize, such as DNA analysis, and the new NamUs. Coroners and medical examiners are given procedures to report the unidentified deceased, and enter all available identifiers into national databases, such as fingerprints, dental records, and DNA analysis.   The text of the legislation can be found here:  http://www.projectjason.org/downloads/ModelLegislation2008Revision.pdf

This idea is currently in 4th Place in Criminal Justice  and needs 67 more votes to make it into the second round!

As Advocate for missing mother and friend, Lilly Aramburo, who vent missing from Miami, FL 6/1/07, I support this legislation wholeheartedly and thank everyone involved, including all who support it by voting and blogging about it and sharing it across the internet. Thank you!! I know what it’s like to fight every step of the way with detectives and law enforcement to get anything done. Every body knows how critical the first 24-48 hours are in solving a missing persons case, but in Lilly’s case, nothing was done because the detective assigned to her case was on vacation! Needless to say, Lilly’s case went cold fast. And the person/people who took her life, remain free with the ability to prey on someone else’s loved one.

This is just our experience. Countless families are forced to suffer needless injustice, red tape and even racism at the hands of law enforcement . I believe it can be prevented by this legislation and many cases could be solved. We must take action now.

Please add your voice and support missing & unidentified persons and their families in the US.

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Desperately Seeking Heather Riggio

Heather Riggio Missing from North Miami Beach, FL

Thankfully, a few media outlets picked up Heather’s story. The Miami Herald wrote a good article about it on today’s paper. The writer, David Ovalle, included very helpful information about the Kid Finders Network. As he writes:

“The billboard is being provided to North Miami Beach police by the Kid Finders Ntework, a West Palm Beach-based volunteer organization run by Sherri and Dennis Milstead. Kid Finders, which relies on donations, provides mobile billboards aimed at finding missing young people. The price of Riggio’s mobile billboard — the printing of the banner and trailer upkeep — is about $3,000, footed so far by the Milsteads. ”We work off donations and we’re still trying to get sponsors,” Sherri Milstead said.“We’re hanging by a shoestring.”

Here’s another article and video about Heather on CBS4. And another one on WSVN including video, as well. You can find more information about Heather Riggio’s case by doing a Google search. There’s over 26,000 pages of search results.

This from Heather’s sister’s Myspace page http://www.myspace.com/heathersmissing “We want as many people as possible to see her picture and know her story…But we need help…we need people to donate gas money and driving time to keep the billboard running…PLEASE contact Sherry @ 561-333-2779 if you can do anything..anything at all helps..thanks a lot, Lisa”. As you can see that Heather’s family is torn up and suffering dearly for the return of their precious “Kitty”.  See more picture of Heather here. If you have any information, anything at all, please contact North Miami Beach Police at 305-949-5500.

Kid Finders Network and North Miami Beach Police join forces to spotlight missing person Heather Riggio

This morning I attended a Press Conference held by the North Miami Beach Police and Kid Finders Network for missing person, Heather “Kitty” Riggio. I was invited by Sherri Milstead, the Executive Director of Kid Finders Network. She learned about Lilly’s case and contacted me earlier in the week.

Kid Finders Network is a nonprofit organization which provides mobile billboards to families, organizations and Law Agencies in search of Missing Children and Missing Persons.  They have a mobile billboard (pictured above) with Heather’s information and picture on it. It will stay at the police station in North Miami Beach until Monday. After that it will go to the area where Heather was last seen at in Homestead. It will cruise the area, increasing the odds of someone calling with an important tip. The drivers are trained in taking tips, too. You can see my entire set of pictures of the press conference and the mobile billboard by clicking the link under the picture.

Lilly’s mom and I could not contain our tears as we watched the press conference taking place. You can’t help but feel overwhelmed with compassion for families experiencing the same suffering.  It was heartbreaking. But at the same time, I saw the dedication and all the effort put forth by the detectives from North Miami Beach Police Department. What a blessing for Heather’s family. I’ve been following her case and from the start, these detectives have done such a great job. I admire and commend them for their commitment and efforts to find Heather. They were able to get her story featured on America’s Most Wanted.

Here is the official press release from the North Miami Beach Police Department. They have it posted on their website:

Topic: Kid Finders Network to Assist in Missing
Persons Case Utilizing Innovative Mobile
Billboard

Date & Time: Friday, July 11th at 11:00 AM at NMBPD,
16901 NE 19 Av.

Narrative: Kid Finders Network will be assisting us with a missing person case where a young female, Heather Riggio, went missing on May 6, 2007 and the public’s help is paramount to helping us find her or find out what happened to her as foul play may be involved. Kid Finders Network is providing an innovative way to assist law enforcement with the recovery of missing persons by providing a mobile billboard that will feature vital information such as photographs of the victim, the areas she frequented, etc. which will be deployed in the area Heather was last seen.

Kid Finders will be at the North Miami Beach Police Department on Friday, July 11th at 11:00 AM with the billboard provided for this case. Representatives from Kid Finders Network as well as NMB Chief Rafael P. Hernandez, Jr. and Lead Case Detective Rich Rand will be present to speak about the case and unveil the highly effective and innovative billboard that will profile this case.

For more information regarding this press release please call Detective Rich Rand at 305-218-1234 or Sergeant Warren Hardison.

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Lilly Aramburo Case Alert on Nancy Grace

My friend, Lilly Aramburo, vanished 6/1/07 from her fiance’s condo in Miami, FL.  Recently, an article about Lilly was published on the cover of the Miami New Times. Now, just a few short weeks later, Nancy Grace featured her on her show as a Case Alert.

You can make a huge difference! Lilly deserves justice and that is why I am asking you to contact Nancy Grace and ask her to investigate Lilly’s disappearance.
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?81

If you have any information, PLEASE contact Miami Dade Police at 305-418-7200 or call Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 or 866-471-8477. You can also report your tip online anonymously https://www.tipsubmit.com/WebTips.aspx?AgencyID=139

Thank you for all of your support! And special thanks to Levi from War on Crime for making this happen!! =) Nancy, THANK YOU!

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