PUBLIC SAFETY BRIEFS

MCSO: Sun Lakes remains belong to murdered Chandler woman

The human remains found June 21 in Sun Lakes have been identified as a Chandler woman murdered in 2010, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday.

Jamie Laiaddee, 32, was killed by her boyfriend, Rick Valentini, in 2010.

Chandler police arrested Valentini in June 2010. He was later convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 54 years in prison.

A Facebook page called “Help Find Jamie Laiaddee” was created in June 2010 and had more than 1,000 members helping search for her.

A post on the page said her family is heartbroken but they now believe they can honor her memory properly now that her body has been recovered.

In 2011, reports said Valentini had told at least two people he “blasted” Laiaddee with a sawed-off shotgun and “disposed of her body in such a way the police will never find her.”

Laiaddee had told a friend on March 17, 2010, the last day she was seen alive, that she was afraid of her boyfriend of three years and worried that police wouldn’t be able to help, the report said.

According to police, Valentini used Laiaddee’s credit cards to fund five dating websites after she vanished.

Valentini, who also went by the name Bryan Stewart for nine years, had several aliases, three former wives and a troubling childhood in which he lived in his mother’s garage before she placed him in foster care at age 16, according to the police report.

Toddler hit Monday by truck in Tempe parking lot has died

Police say a 3-year-old girl who was struck by a truck in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Tempe died Friday.

Tempe police said the child had been in “critical but stable” condition after she was hit by a vehicle Monday near University Drive and Rural Road.

The incident happened as a man was unloading his children from his car in the parking lot, police said. The girl exited the car first and walked in front of the moving truck as the man unloaded another child.

The driver — 61-year-old Lavelle Ferebee — was delivering a golf cart to the complex. Police said he stayed on the scene following the accident and was later booked and released on suspicion of driving under the influence as officials await lab results.

Woman fatally shot in hotel parking lot in Yuma

A 28-year-old woman was killed during a shooting in Yuma Saturday morning, the Yuma Police Department said.

Officers responded to a report of shots fired near U.S. 95 and Interstate 8 in Yuma at about 5 a.m. Police arrived at the scene and located a female with a single gunshot wound in a Quality Inn & Suites parking lot.

She was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center and later died from her injuries, police said.

The suspect, 37-year-old Steven Brown, is in custody and will be booked on multiple charges, police said.

The woman’s name is being withheld until police notify her next of kin. The case remains under investigation.