Left: Geovanni Otero (U.S. Marshals). Right: Melody Rivera (Philadelphia Police Department).
New York State Police troopers on Saturday arrested a man wanted for murder in Philadelphia who has allegedly been on the run since November.
Geovanni Otero is being accused of the murder of his ex-girlfriend, 29-year-old Melody Rivera. Rivera was reported missing until police discovered her body buried in a shallow grave. She was last seen alive on Halloween 2024 around 7 p.m. in the 900 block of Sanger Street on Philadelphia’s north side. Although the authorities announced her disappearance on Nov. 6, her partially-decomposed body was found the following day in a park near Verree Road and Tustin Avenue.
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Investigators swiftly pinpointed Otero, aged 29, as a person of interest. Sources within the police force revealed to local Fox affiliate WTXF that Otero was being monitored via GPS due to a prior gun-related arrest. Allegedly, GPS data and other evidence indicated that Otero had fatally attacked Rivera before transferring her body to the park where he proceeded to bury her in the shallow grave.
Police secured a warrant initially for a parole violation and subsequently for Rivera’s murder on Nov. 27. Otero managed to evade authorities until Saturday, when two New York state police troopers attempted to apprehend a stolen vehicle from Virginia in Greenburgh, located north of New York City. Initially compliant, the driver later identified as Otero, fled from the scene of the traffic stop, initiating a brief pursuit by law enforcement, as detailed in a press release by the troopers. After driving approximately a mile, the suspect crashed the vehicle and tried to escape on foot. However, the troopers promptly captured him and took him into custody. Otero’s identity was confirmed through his fingerprints.
He is in jail awaiting extradition back to Pennsylvania.
Rivera had a 11-year-old daughter and was described by family as kind, funny and loving. Her family spent hours looking for her before she was found.
“She didn’t deserve to be buried in a park,” he sister Martha Lee Fred told WTXF. “She didn’t deserve that.”
Fred said her family plans to ensure Otero is convicted.
“On my soul, I won’t stop until justice for my sister is served,” she said.
