The body of a missing nine-year-old girl has been found in a storage unit in Owensboro.
The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office said deputies on Friday responded to a missing person complaint after nine-year-old Alianna Maya Gomez-Alvarez went missing from the care of her father, 31-year-old Jose Gomez-Alvarez and his girlfriend, 27-year-old Cheyenne Porter.
Deputies discovered the couple “cared for several children” and were apparently transient, as they had lived in various motels in Daviess County “for much of 2022,” police said.
On Monday, police developed information which led deputies to a storage unit rented by Porter at 3425 New Hartford Road in southeast Owensboro. A search warrant was obtained and executed at the storage unit where “a tote was located with suspected human remains,” police said.
The Daviess County Coroner’s Office was contacted and transported the remains to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Madisonville for autopsy, positive identification and cause of death.
Warrants were obtained for Gomez-Alvarez and Porter for tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse. The suspects were found and arrested on Tuesday in Berea.
The couple has been extradited from Madison County and are now being held in the Daviess County Detention Center on $100,000 cash bonds.
A deputy told news outlets that Alianna’s siblings said she died after experiencing convulsions following being locked in a basement for an extended period of time. News14 out of Evansville says officials told the television station the child went missing in November 2021. Gomez-Alvarez told police he was afraid to report the death for fear he would get into trouble.
The death investigation is ongoing and is being conducted by the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office, Daviess County Coroner’s Office, Kentucky State Police, and Homeland Security.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
