Dianna Brice body found: Missing Upper Darby, Pa pregnant woman found as her now missing boyfriend, Justin Smith becomes person of interest.
A 21-year-old pregnant woman who went missing last week, just hours before her boyfriend’s car was found engulfed in flames, was discovered dead late Monday night, according to reports.
Dianna Brice, 14 weeks pregnant, disappeared on March 30 with boyfriend Justin Smith from Upper Darby, Penn., according to local police.
Brice and her mother left for the laundromat around 11:30 a.m. that Tuesday, at which point Brice went to meet Smith, 23, in his car around the corner to pick up her live-saving medication at the pharmacy.
Her mother, Betty Cellini, told CBS 3 that she later spoke to Brice, who told her that they had driven to Philadelphia and asked her to pick up the medication for her.
Brice never returned home as Cellini sought her pregnant daughter’s whereabouts.
Vanished boyfriend person of interest
Cellini said her daughter was pregnant with Smith’s child when she disappeared. Cellini also said Brice was the mother of a 4-year-old boy.
Cellini eventually managed to get a hold of Smith, who told Cellini that he had gotten into an argument with Brice, who he said got out of the car and walked off.
Smith allegedly told her he would go and look for Brice but found no sign of her. Cellini said Smith started to panic when she suggested calling the police to report her missing.
Cellini told WPVI-TV that her daughter has a serious medical condition and needed to take medication daily, making her sudden disappearance all the more disturbing.
Come 5:30 p.m on Tuesday, Smith’s car was found on fire with nobody inside.
‘Investigators have looked through hours’ worth of video footage and neither Diana Brice or Justin Smith were seen in, near, or around the car at the time of the fire,’ Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt told KYW-TV.
Almost a week later, police found the body of a pregnant woman in a wooded lot in Southwest Philadelphia. The recovered body was identified Tuesday morning as that of missing pregnant woman, Dianna Brice. The manner and cause of death is pending an autopsy.
Smith is still considered missing and has not been seen since the day Brice went missing.
Philadelphia police have taken over the investigation, now ruled a homicide.
The boyfriend’s whereabouts remains unknown.
