New York man arraigned in 1976 Evelyn Colon homicide
Apr. 14—A New York man accused of a 44-year-old murder took his first steps in the Pennsylvania court system Tuesday afternoon.
Luis A. Sierra, 63, of Ozone Park, New York, who was charged by Pennsylvania State Police at Fern Ridge with a first degree felony for homicide on March 31, attended his preliminary arraignment before Magisterial District Judge Joseph Homanko, Weatherly. Prior to that he was awaiting extradition from New York.
Homanko denied Sierra bail due to the homicide charge, according to the court docket.
A tentative preliminary hearing where the commonwealth is tasked with proving it has enough evidence to try Sierra in Carbon County Court is set for April 28 at 10 a.m. before Homanko. No attorney is listed for Sierra, who is locked up in county jail, according to the docket.
Sierra is accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend, Evelyn Colon, 15, of Jersey City, New Jersey, who went missing in mid-December 1976. He would have been 19 years old at the time.
Colon's dismembered remains and that of her near full-term unborn daughter were packed into three suitcases and likely thrown from an Interstate 80 overpass bridge. They were found by a White Haven teenager near the Lehigh River in East Side Borough, Carbon County, just outside of Luzerne County, on Dec. 20, 1976.
She was strangled and shot in the neck. Her death, which occurred within 24 hours of her remains being discovered, was ruled a homicide.
The mother and child remained nameless for 44 years, buried in Lehigh Twp. in a county-run cemetery in 1983 after spending years in a Philadelphia morgue under the name Beth Doe.
Over time police solicited tips from the public after releasing information, including composite sketches. The remains were exhumed and studied.
No answers came. But, a major break surfaced in 2020 — a Texas laboratory compiled a DNA profile from Beth Doe that was uploaded to public DNA databases and proved a match to Evelyn Colon's nephew, Luis Colon Jr.
Investigators then learned that Evelyn Colon's boyfriend and the father of her child was Sierra, a man a family member said was abusive. After Evelyn went missing, her family received a letter in January 1977, written in Spanish, detailing that Evelyn had a baby boy named Luis Jr. and if she needed anything, would call.
Evelyn was never reported missing but, according to the family, they continued to search for her through the years.
Once the DNA connection was made, Colon's survivors in their grief began planning a memorial service and named her baby Emily Grace Colon. They also created a GoFundMe fundraising page that as of Tuesday had tallied $8,595 toward a $15,000 goal.
In a statement from the family, via Miriam Colon-Veltman, she said Colon was the girl next door from Jersey City, a hazel, green-eyed beauty who loved her mother and her family. For 44 years the family held onto hope they would be reunited, but not with such tragic circumstances.
"We are grief-stricken that our search ended this way," she wrote.
Still, in that grief they are overwhelmed by the good in people they have witnessed.
"We are touched by the outpouring of love and interest in our Evelyn and her family. Her family loved her. Her family missed her. Her family never stopped looking for her."
Despite Sierra being in custody, troopers want to collect more information on Evelyn Colon's murder and, along with Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers, introduced a tip line last week. Anyone with insight is asked to call 800-4PA-TIPS (800-472-8477) and reference media release No. 1956.
Pennsylvania State Police Troop N, Criminal Investigation Unit and Carbon County District Attorney Michael Greek will host a press conference Wednesday at 11 a.m. on the case.
Contact the writer: achristman@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3584
