Body of missing woman found in shallow grave one week after she was abducted by her ex-boyfriend, police source says

The body of a 29-year-old woman was found buried in a shallow grave in the woods of Fox Chase on Thursday, one week after investigators believe her ex-boyfriend abducted her, a law enforcement source said.

Police recovered the remains of Melody Rivera, covered with twigs and leaves, Thursday afternoon on the 900 block of Tustin Avenue, near Pennypack Park.

Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore said officials are waiting for the Medical Examiner's Office to identify the body, but that they are working with Rivera's family.

"It's her," Martha Fred, Rivera's sister, said solemnly Friday morning.

A law enforcement source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the same.

Rivera was last seen by her family on Halloween in the Summerdale section of the city, police said . According to posts from relatives on Facebook, the woman called her mother to say she was being held against her will by a man known as "G."

Police believe that man to be 29-year-old Geovanni Otero, Rivera's ex-boyfriend, the source said. A warrant has not been issued for Otero's arrest, but Vanore said investigators are looking to speak with him about the case.

According to the source, Rivera was driving with her girlfriend, when Otero attacked them, threw the girlfriend out of the car, and drove off with Rivera. Police found the car abandoned days later, said the source, but did not find Rivera.

Investigators believe she was likely killed on Nov. 1, said the source, and that her body has been in the woods since then. Her cause of death was not immediately clear, the source said.

Otero, of Hunting Park, has served time in jail on drug and gun charges since 2015. In 2018, he was convicted of illegal gun posession and sentenced to 3 1⁄2-to-eight years in jail, court records show.

At the time of Rivera's disappearance, he was out on parole and wearing a GPS ankle monitor, said the source.

That ankle monitor ultimately led detectives to the woods — and to Rivera's body — the source said, after Otero's GPS location pinged twice in that area.