MISSING WOMAN IS FOUND DEAD
BODY DISCOVERED IN SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA
PHILADELPHIA » The body of a 21-yearold pregnant woman who was missing since last Tuesday has been found in Philadelphia and the case is now being investigated as a homicide.
Early Tuesday morning, Diana Brice’s body was found in the 5800 block of Eastwick Boulevard, near Lindbergh Boulevard, in Philadelphia, according to police.
She was last seen leaving the K Laundry at 544 Church Lane in Yeadon with her boyfriend, Justin Smith, 23, around 1 p.m. on March 30. Police received a missing persons report for her on Tuesday, March 30.
Smith likewise has gone missing and Upper Darby Police Superintendent Tim Bernhardt said Smith has not yet been found.
About four and a half hours after police received Brice’s missing person report, Smith’s vehicle was found on fire in the area of 59th and Florence streets in Philadelphia. No bodies were found in the vehicle at that time. That location is about a mile and a half from where her body was found.
Police were following a report that Brice, who was three months pregnant with Smith’s child, and Smith got into an argument in Philadelphia and she left the car. However, Bernhardt said on-site video surveillance showed they were never there.
As of Monday, Smith was not suspected of any wrongdoing and was being treated as a missing person.
CBS Philly reported Brice’s mother, Betty Cellini, as saying she last talked
to her daughter a week ago.
“She was so upset. She just kept crying,” CBS reported Brice’s mother said. “I asked her what was wrong. She said, ‘Nothing, Mom.’”
The news station said Cellini met her daughter at 1 p.m. March 30 to give her medication that she takes daily and described her as “visibly upset.” It also said Brice told her mother that she was going to go straight home but when she didn’t arrive, the mother called Smith. He allegedly told the mother he and Brice got into an argument and she got out of the car.
“What kind of man does that to your girlfriend who’s carrying your child? I said what kind of [expletive deleted] are you on?” Cellini said, according to CBS Philly.
Smith then allegedly went to go
find Brice but didn’t find her.
Brice’s mother told the news station that she told Smith she was then going to file a missing person’s report to which he allegedly answered, “Oh my God. No, you better call me first.”
Cellini then said she asked, “What?” and the phone went dead.
Brice has a condition that requires her to take medication daily and she also has a 4-year-old son.
Her death is being investigated by Philadelphia homicide detectives. No cause of death has been released yet.
Anyone with information on Dianna Brice or Justin Smith should immediately contact the Upper Darby Police Detective Division at 610-7347677 or contact the Philadelphia Police Department by calling or texting 215-686-TIPS (8477).