New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘We will not stop until we get justice for Lizzbeth’
Slain woman’s family and supporters hold vigil
EAST HAVEN — No one in East Haven will forget who Lizzbeth Aleman-Popoca was, how she died or the fact that there’s been no arrest in her slaying, if her sister, family, friends and supporters have anything to say about it.
They pressed the issue on the steps of Town Hall Friday afternoon — just over three months after Aleman-Popoca’s disappearance and just under three months since her body was found in a shallow grave behind LoMonaco’s Ristorante Italiano in Branford — just to be sure.
“We’re still looking for justice for my sister, who passed away three months ago,” younger sister Yaneth Aleman, 24, said to the crowd. She was flanked by about 30 supporters who held signs “Justice for Lizzbeth,” “Stop Killing Our Sisters”
and “No More Stolen Sisters.”
They chanted in both Spanish and English.
“I know a lot of people have told me not to say anything, not to do anything. But I can’t keep quiet,” Aleman said. “It was my sister.”
“... It took them 15 days to find my sister, lifeless, buried in a shallow grave behind a dumpster,” she said.
“I have a lot of rage and no one’s going to be able to shut my rage out until I get justice for my sister,” she said later in Spanish that was translated by supporter Vanesa Suarez, a member of the Justice for Lizzbeth group that has formed in the wake of AlemanPopoca’s death.
Aleman held a sign that read, “El sistema es machista y opresor” — “The system is macho and oppressive.”
As she was speaking, her father, Albino Aleman Sedeño, arrived and quietly walked up the steps to take one corner of a banner that was held behind the speakers.
Sedeño, who speaks more limited English than Aleman, opted not to speak during the rally. But he said afterward in Spanish, “I have confidence in justice,” and said he believes an arrest will come in his daughter’s death.
“We will not stop until we get justice for Lizzbeth and ... everyone knows what happened to Lizzbeth,” said Suarez, one of several supporters on the Town Hall steps who had blood-red hands painted around their necks.
“We’re going to make sure that this whole town knows Lizzbeth’s name.
This town has been silent,” Suarez said. “The mayor of East Haven, Joseph Carfora, has done nothing about it. He has not even commented on it,” she said.
“I’m sure if she had been white, the whole town would have been in an uproar.”
Carfora did not attend the rally, but said later in a texted statement, “This senseless loss of a vibrant young woman is beyond comprehension. Lizzbeth’s death in this manner is beyond what any family should suffer. My thoughts and prayers go out to them.
“This is an ongoing criminal matter,” Carfora said. “Our (police) department is working directly with the New Haven State’s Attorney who has been assigned to this matter to be sure that a thorough and complete investigation is done. We all
want and demand justice for this family.
“It would be woefully inappropriate for me to comment further during the pendency of this investigation,” he said, adding, “I have been assured that our department, at the highest levels, has been updating and communicating with Lizzbeth’s family about the progress, and the requirements of this investigation.
“As I have indicated in a previous statement , I look forward to speaking with this family to provide them as much additional comfort as I can at the appropriate time,” Carfora said.
“Combatting domestic violence is one of our main priorities as an agency,” said police Capt. Joseph Murgo. "This investigation is ongoing and remains extremely active. The com
plexity of this case combined with no arrest makes it hard to talk about without giving away sensitive information. We are in contact and stand with Lizzbeth’s family and will not waiver in our dedication to bring closure to her
family.”
Aleman-Popoca, 27, the mother of an 8-year-old daughter and a native of Mexico’s Guerrero state, came to the U.S. at age 16. She was reported missing July 3 by family and her common-law husband,
Jonnathan Jara-Aucapina.
Aleman-Popoca and Jara-Aucapina, a native of Ecuador, were not officially married but had a child together and referred to each other as husband and wife, according to AlemanPopoca’s family.
Jara-Aucapina told police at the time that he had noticed her missing on July 1.
Her body was found July 16 buried in a shallow grave behind a dumpster at LoMonaco’s, Jara-Aucapina’s employer.
The state office of the Chief Medical Examiner in early September ruled Aleman-Popoca’s death a homicide and the cause of her death was “homicidal asphyxia,” according to state Chief Medical Examiner Dr. James Gill.
Aleman and Aleman Sedeño repeatedly have called for justice for her during the weeks and months since her disappearance and the discovery of her body.
Aleman, 24, has been taking care of her late sister’s daughter, Astrid, since Aleman-Popoca disappeared.
Aleman has said her father, who lives in the city’s Fair Haven Heights section, “came here to give us a better life,” leaving Mexico in 2001 when Aleman was just three years old. Aleman Sedeño brought his daughters over about 10 years after coming here himself, when Lizzbeth was 16 and Yaneth was 13.
The family has set up GoFundMe campaign that remains open to raise money for Aleman-Popoca’s daughter’s future upbringing. As of Friday, $11,415 had been raised toward a $50,000 goal.