Teen Found Dead in Shallow Grave Weeks After Witnessing Her Father’s Murder; Family Claims Her Boyfriend Is Responsible

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The body of a teenage girl who witnessed the murder of her father just weeks ago has been found in a shallow grave in upstate New York.

Jalia Marrero, 18, was just weeks away from graduating high school. On May 4, she witnessed her father being shot to death and reportedly gave a statement to the police.

Less than a week later, the teen disappeared. Her family did not report her missing until May 21. She was last seen on May 10. On May 11, she was expected to attend the funeral home to say goodbye to her father.

She did not show up.

The victim's family told The Buffalo News Monday they were informed by the police that Jalia had been dead for quite some time before her body was discovered concealed in a shallow grave in the woods.

Jalia's family believes that her boyfriend murdered her father and then came back for her days later.

"He used to track her on her phone and cuss her out until she got into the house. Once she got to the house on Donovan Drive, that's where he would meet her and beat her. That's how her relationship was," Norma Coppola, Marrero's cousin, said of the teen's boyfriend to ABC Buffalo.

"There's no way she would drug herself, wrap herself up and put herself in a hole in a field, like a dog. That's what they did to her because she was the only witness to her father's murder," she added. "This boy shot him six times at least. There's evidence all over the walls. There's evidence in that house, and she's the only witness. Now, here it is, three weeks later, we have to cremate her because her body was so decomposed. Because three weeks earlier, her father got killed."

No arrests have been made, nor names of suspects released to the public.

Anyone with any information is asked to call detectives at 716-851-4466 or GYC Ministries at 716-770-9093.