MA Man Charged In 5-Year-Old's Murder Pleads Not Guilty: DA

WORCESTER, MA — The Fitchburg man accused of killing a child and dumping the boy's body along I-190 will remain in jail following his indictment this week.

Alberto Sierra Jr., 32, was arraigned Thursday in Worcester on charges of murder and disinterring a body. A grand jury on Wednesday indicted Sierra on those charges, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. Sierra entered a not-guilty plea during the arraignment.

Prosecutors say Sierra killed 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver — his then-girlfriend's son — stuffed the body in a suitcase and discarded it along the freeway in Sterling. Oliver was reported missing in September 2013, but his body wasn't found until April 2014. A state medical examiner later ruled that Oliver died due to "homicidal violence of undetermined etiology."

Sierra was previously sentenced to serve up to seven years in state prison on charges that he assaulted Oliver's mother and the boy's siblings. He was not in prison when he was indicted this week, according to reports.

Sierra is due back in court next on May 25.