Case Profiles #6
Lineada Olivera
34-year-old Lineada Olivera came to America from Puerto Rico at the age of 16, and immediately began to struggle with drug addiction. In order to make money to support herself and her family, as well as her drug addiction, Lineada took to sex work around Rutland, Massachusetts. Before she disappeared in January of 2007, Lineada had just given birth to her 10th and 11th children- a set of twin girls. Despite being missing in January, she wasn’t reported missing until May. Unfortunately, in September, 9 months after she was last seen, skeletal remains belonging to Lineada were found scattered just off of Route 122. Due to her history of drug abuse and sex work, in addition to her Puerto Rican heritage, her case didn’t get a ton of attention as it should have- despite her being a mother and having family and loved ones looking for her. Lineada’s sister, Marilyn, says that whenever she went to meet up with a new customer, she would call her and give her their name and license plate number. Because Lineada didn’t call her, Marilyn thinks she was picked up by someone she knew and then was killed. To this day, Lineada’s killer has not be found and her family is still fighting for justice.
Andrew Pearson
25-year-old Andrew Pearson’s body was found in Porter Lake in Springfield, Massachusetts on April 21st, 2019. He had been missing for three months and was last seen heading to his job at Panera Bread on foot in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts on January 28th at about 4:00pm. He was found at around 9:10am by a Forest Park employee, and it took firefighters about two hours to recover Andrew’s body. Law enforcement maintains that Andrew’s death is not suspicious despite the fact that he was found just one month after the body of another black man from Springfield named Achim Bailey was also recovered from a body of water in the area. Andrew leaves behind his young daughter and loving family.
Image sources:
collinsfuneral.com - “Lineada Olivera Gomez”
masslive.com - “Officials confirm man found dead in Forest Park is Andrew Pearson Jr.”