Remains found in Chandler identified as woman killed by boyfriend in 2010
Jun 29, 2018, 1:38 PM | Updated: 2:18 pm
(48 Hours Mystery)
(48 Hours Mystery)
PHOENIX — Human remains found last week at a Phoenix-area worksite were identified as a woman murdered by her boyfriend eight years ago, authorities said Friday.
Jamie Laiaddee disappeared in 2010, and Rick Valentini, also known as Bryan Stewart, was convicted of second-degree murder for her death a year later despite the absence of a body.
According to news reports from the time, Valentini was being held in connection with the 32-year-old Chandler woman’s disappearance when he told a fellow inmate that he killed her with a shotgun and fed parts of her body to pigs.
He was sentenced to 54 years in prison for the murder and crimes related to it.
“In our department, this was the first time that we had ever charged and convicted somebody for murder on a no-body case,” Detective Seth Tyler of the Chandler Police Department told KTAR News 92.3 FM.
Last week, the remains were found by employees with Grand Materials and Supply in an unincorporated portion of Chandler.
On Monday, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office asked the public’s help in identifying the remains.
No information was provided about how the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the severely decomposed body as Laiaddee’s.
“Thankfully, the family now has closure,” Tyler said.
Laiaddee’s case was featured on CBS’ “48 Hours” in 2012 and on the Investigation Discovery channel show “Grave Secrets” in 2016.
Laiaddee was last seen in March 2010, but her disappearance wasn’t reported to Chandler police by her father, who lived in California, until two months later.
Detectives contacted Valentini in June of that year and initially arrested him on an outstanding traffic warrant. He was in possession of Laiaddee’s car, and some of her personal effects were found in the home they had shared.
When initially questions, Valentini told police Laiaddee had broken up with him and was moving to Denver for a new job.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ali Vetnar contributed to this report.
