Jeremiah Oliver's father returns to Mass. to plan funeral

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com/AP) - The father of a missing boy whose body was found off a Massachusetts highway says he was crushed to hear that his 5-year-old son's remains had been identified but is planning his funeral.

"He was always laughing, all the time, very loveable," Jose Oliver said of his son Jeremiah. "I just don't get it."

Jose Oliver lives in New Britain, Conn., and returned to Massachusetts Sunday, in tears as he stood at a memorial for his son in Fitchburg.

The boy's body was found off Route 190 in Sterling, Mass., in an embankment roughly 40 feet from the highway. Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said the body was wrapped in a blanket-type object and found inside what he described as packaging similar to a suitcase.

"I was hoping that it wasn't him," Jose Oliver said.

Sources tell FOX 25 that Alberto Sierra, the 23-year-old boyfriend of Jeremiah's mother Elsa Oliver, disclosed the location of the boy's body in a jailhouse conversation.

That information then made its way to the Worcester County Sheriff's investigator, who ultimately found the suitcase on Friday in Sterling.

A spokesman for the sheriff's office in Worcester County declined to comment on the development, and have referred all questions to the Worcester County District Attorney's office.

Jeremiah Oliver was last seen in September but wasn't reported missing until December.

Jose Oliver said his other two children are now trying to come to terms with their brother's death.

"My daughter's doing okay," Oliver said. "My other son, he's not taking things too well."

Before his body was found, Jeremiah's case led to criminal charges against his mother and her boyfriend and calls for changes within the state's child welfare agency. Three workers were fired.

No new charges have yet been announced related to Jeremiah's death.

Jose Oliver continued Sunday afternoon to make funeral arrangements for his son, and said when final arrangements have been set, he will post them on a Facebook support page called Jeremiah Oliver Seekers.

Cox Media Group