Four-year-old Rene Alberto Romero is one of those particularly awful cases where the parents abused the child to death and his disappearance wasn’t noticed for some time. He disappeared from Las Vegas, Nevada and the official date of disappearance was given as November 28, 1994; I don’t know if that’s the date he was last seen, or a guesstimate, or the time he was reported missing, or what. It’s always been a kind of special case with me, since I found out the details of what happened to him. His three-year-old brother may have witnessed his murder. Both Rene’s mother and his mother’s boyfriend — who blamed each other for the homicide after they were caught — are serving time for his murder. [EDIT: Actually, it would appear the mother is out now. Sigh.]
Well, I just got word from authorities at the Utah Missing Persons Clearinghouse: a body they found in that state in 1996 has been identified as little Rene. The person who sent me the notice didn’t include any more details, and I have replied asking if there was anything else she could tell me about the UID — just out of curiosity.
I’m so glad Rene has been found. RIP, little one.
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