FL FL - Jennifer Marteliz, 7, Tampa, 15 Nov 1982

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Jennifer Sophia Marteliz

marteliz_jennifer.jpg

marteliz_jennifer_ap.jpg




Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: November 15, 1982 from Tampa, Florida
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: June 9, 1975
Age: 7 years old
Height and Weight: 3'6 - 4'0, 60 - 70 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Marteliz has moles or beauty marks on the upper part of her chest, on the right side of her nose near her eye, and on her collarbone. She has a mole on the back of her right thigh. Her ears are pierced. She has a cleft in her chin and her upper front teeth are large.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A pink print dress (sometimes the color is given as orange) with yellow flowers, maroon ballerina shoes, heart-shaped gold post earrings, and a hair comb with ribbons and flowers. Marteliz is shown wearing the dress in the above photograph on the left.





Details of DisappearanceMarteliz was last seen walking one block from her family's residence on 15th Street and 109th Avenue in Tampa, Florida on November 15, 1982 at approximately 3:00 p.m. Marteliz asked a friend to watch her as she continued to her house; her friend turned away for a moment and Marteliz disappeared. She has not been seen again. Members of Marteliz's family were cleared of any involvement in her disappearance. Authorities suspected that Thomas Peter Welnicki, a family friend of Marteliz, was involved in her case. Some evidence was discovered, but Welnicki was never connected to her disappearance and he has never been charged. Marteliz's case remains unsolved.


Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Tampa Police Department
813-273-0770

http://charleyproject.org/cases/m/marteliz_jennifer.html
 
Today, November 15, 2007, marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Jennifer's disappearance. Please contact the Tampa Police Dept. at 813-273-0770 if you have any information.
 
http://tampabayonline.net/reports/marteliz/home.htm

The search for Jennifer Marteliz documentary


Interestingly, I googled their suspect Thomas Welnicki and found this story from last year.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/nypd_blotter/nypd_daily_blotter_Ez2MIlPyyq2w9Cu7Li0MzN

Queens
A rent dispute landed a Richmond Hill man behind bars after he tossed scalding chocolate on his roommate, authorities said.
Thomas Welnicki, 59, allegedly clashed with the 52-year-old man in their residence on 127th Street at about 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 7.
Welnicki then allegedly poured piping-hot cocoa over the man's shoulder.
Police were called and arrested Welnicki, who was charged with assault, said a spokesman for DA Richard Brown.


 
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) - State police in southwestern Pennsylvania are searching for the skeletal remains of 7-year-old girl last seen walking to school in Tampa, Fla. nearly 30 years ago.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/M2fvnb ) report Thursday that police have obtained search warrants for six properties linked to a since-deceased Pennsylvania man who also lived in Tampa. State police from the Uniontown barracks, about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh, have told The Associated Press they're involved in the search but did not immediately provide details.
According to the newspaper, police obtained the search warrants after a woman, who was 10 at the time Jennifer Marteliz disappeared on November 15, 1982, told them she saw the man remove a large plastic bag from his car.
The woman told police she believes the bag may have been buried on the man's property.

:please:

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/18958562/pa-police-seeking-remains-of-missing-fla-girl
 
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1238878.ece

Pennsylvania police seek remains of girl who disappeared from Tampa nearly 30 years ago


TAMPA —State police in southwestern Pennsylvania are searching for the skeletal remains of Jennifer Marteliz, a 7-year-old girl last seen walking to school in Tampa nearly 30 years ago.
Pittsburgh state police obtained search warrants dated Thursday for six properties linked to a since-deceased Pennsylvania man who also had a home blocks away from the missing girl in Tampa.
Jennifer's uncle Frank Longo, who heard of the development from the Tampa Bay Times, said he is trying to keep a level head.
"Through the years, we've had a lot of ups and downs with it," Longo said. "In the 30 years, it's never gone away. We think about her all the time."



More at link
 
This could be another case where LE focused on on suspect and it may turn out to be someone they never suspected.

I hope the family can find closure.
 
I live near Tampa and used to live in PA. I always beleive that someone knows something about our missing, it just takes courage to come foreward.

http://www.baynews9.com/
 
STILL MISSING: Jennifer Marteliz has been missing since 1982. She was just seven years old when officials say she disappeared after school, just one block from her home. Now, 33 years later, an age-processed photo shows what she would look like at the age of 40.

http://www.fox13news.com/news/local-news/19737019-story
 
This little girl looks so much like a girl in my brothers grade back in 82 or 83. It is really eerie she kinda looks like the progression picture now. Right down to the cleft in her chin.
 
Unsolved: Jennifer Marteliz still missing after 34 years

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/unsolved-jennifer-marteliz-still-missing-after-34-years/317858515

On November 15, 1982, seven-year-old Jennifer Marteliz vanished on her way home from school. All these years later, her family is still no closer to finding out where she is and what happened to Jennifer.

"She just had all this energy and she was just so beautiful," says Jennifer's mother Kathy Longo. "And I'm not just saying that because she's my daughter. She had this long black hair and a beautiful smile."

Over the past 34 years, there have been plenty of leads--but no strong suspects in her disappearance. In 2012 a tip led Tampa Police to Pennsylvania to search for possible remains. Nothing was found.

Her mother has a message for her long-lost daughter:

"I love you, I love you with all my heart," says Kathy Longo--fighting back tears. "I've spent 34 years of my life just looking for you. And I will continue until they day I die. Please come home."
 
Update on the case
Jennifer Sophia Marteliz – The Charley Project

Details of Disappearance
Jennifer was last seen walking home from school. She was one block from her family's residence on 15th Street and 109th Avenue in Tampa, Florida on November 15, 1982 at approximately 3:00 p.m. Jennifer asked a friend to watch her as she continued to her house; her friend turned away for a moment and Jennifer disappeared. She has not been seen again.

Jennifer's parents were divorced in 1982, and she lived with her father and stepmother, but her mother had legal custody. Jennifer did not get along with her stepmother, and members of her mother's family had contemplated removing the child from her father's home. Both sides of her family accused one another of hiding Jennifer after her disappearance. Eventually all her relatives were ruled out as suspects in her case.

Authorities suspected that Thomas Peter Welnicki, a family friend of Jennifer with an extensive criminal history for charges ranging from theft to drug possession to minor assault, was involved in her case. A photograph of Welnicki is posted with this case summary.

When questioned by police, he claimed to have a psychic vision of Jennifer's abduction and murder. He said she was abducted and strangled by two men. One of them, he said, was in his forties and had a criminal history, and the other was a blond man in his mid-twenties whom Jennifer knew and trusted, and whose conscience troubled him deeply after the child's death. Welnicki himself matches the description of the blond man.

Authorities believe Welnicki's "vision" was actually a confession, but he denies this. He failed a polygraph about Jennifer's case, but this may have been because he was taking medication to prevent seizures. Welnicki he has never been charged in connection with Jennifer's case.

At the time of her disappearance, Jennifer was a second-grade student at Lassie C. Shaw Elementary School, which was one miles from her home. She was a good student and well-behaved. Her presumed abduction remains unsolved. Her mother self-published a book about it in 2011, titled "Jennifer, Where Are You?"
 

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