Andrew Wiley, Tallahassee, Florida father arrested in the murder of his daughter, Lori Paige, two years after he reported her missing. Incriminating searches on the internet and story inconsistencies led to girl’s body recovery.
A Florida father who reported his then 12 year old missing nearly two years ago has been charged with her murder.
Andrew Wiley, 36, according to a press release from the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) was on Friday, April 11, arrested on ‘charges of second-degree murder’ in connection with the death of his daughter, Lori Paige, 12.
The father’s arrest came following a comprehensive and exhaustive 22-month investigation into the disappearance of Lori. The missing girl’s remains were found last Saturday on a plantation in Thomas County, Georgia, WCTV reported.
According to police, Wiley reported Lori missing on June 3, 2023. At the time, the parent claimed his daughter had left home with her backpack sometime overnight while he was at work.
The missing girl’s remains were found almost two years later in ‘a remote, brush-covered area of Thomas County, Georgia, known locally as a plantation’ on April 5, after digital evidence led investigators to the area.
‘Multiple searches’ of the area in ‘early 2024’ yielded no findings including a ‘prescribed burn that cleared heavy brush,’ police said in their statement.
Wiley became the focus of investigators in March 2024, after ‘more inconsistencies’ in his statements along with ‘new information about his relationship with Lori’ emerging.
Police were put on notice, a month after a forensic analysis of a phone seized from Wiley’s residence on Feb. 2, 2024, led authorities to uncover ‘questionable internet searches about remote areas with bodies of water in Alabama and Georgia among other things.’
The TPD said they began to see inconsistencies with Wiley’s story after pursuing ‘hundreds of leads across state lines’ in the summer of 2023 and early 2024.
‘I told you two years ago we would never give up. I told you two years ago we would find Lori and we would bring her home,’ said TPD Chief Lawrence Revell during an afternoon press conference.
‘I told you two years ago that we would find who did this and we would arrest them and bring them to justice. And today, I stand before you to tell you we have done just that,’ Revell continued.
The official added that the case had ‘deeply impacted our community for nearly two years.’
‘Lori deserved a safe home and a full life. While today’s arrest will never bring her back, it does bring us one step closer to justice,’ he said.
To date the manner and cause pending an autopsy, has yet to be revealed. Police declined to also what they believe led up to Page’s slaying and why her father killed her.
Wiley appearing in front of a judge on Saturday had bond denied, with state prosecutors’s request to have the father barred from having contact with several of his and Lori’s family members, being granted.
A public defender has since been appointed for the father.
Wiley is to remain in the Leon County Jail until his next court hearing.
