The father of Ellie Lorenzo, a 3-year-old girl found dead at a recycling center, is a suspect in her death, the San Jose Police Department said.
Ellie’s mother told The Times in a statement Tuesday that before the girl died, her father found out she was moving to another state with the children.
Police identified the father as 42-year-old Jared Lorenzo. Police said the man’s death was an apparent suicide.
The investigation into Ellie’s death is ongoing, but Ellie was last seen with her father on the night of July 11, authorities said. Monte’s apartment, drove to San Jose and dumped her body in what police said was a “trash can.”
Three-year-old Ellie Obi Lorenzo killed by father in San Jose
(San Jose Police Department)
A garbage company later emptied the container and moved the contents to a recycling center, where Ellie’s body was found. Police said that after Lorenzo disposed of his daughter’s body, he drove to several Bay Area cities and finally stopped in San Francisco, where he was found dead.
Authorities have not released a motive.
The girl’s mother, Chrystal Obi, offered an explanation in a statement in which she expressed outrage over her daughter’s death and lambasted a court system she said allowed this to happen. .
Obi said she had been worried about Ellie and her father’s safety, but the court “continued to grant him partial custody and visitation rights.”
“Last week, on Tuesday, I finally received confirmation that the court would allow me and Ellie to move out of state together, and he realized that.”
She said that on Thursday morning in Mountain View, the Bay Area city where they have made their home, where Ellie attends preschool, she kissed her daughter goodbye, told her she loved her, and then the daughter left with her father for “court-ordered visitation.”
“But my daughter never came back.”
Obi said she and her family have been experiencing tremendous pain and grief.
“We humbly ask for privacy as we are heartbroken by the loss of our sweet Ellie.”
