PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia police have arrested a woman in connection with the death of a pregnant mother who went missing last month with her boyfriend.
Betty Cellini last saw her daughter, 21-year-old Dianna Brice, getting in her boyfriend’s Ford Fusion at the K Laundry on Church Lane in Lansdowne two weeks ago. She reported her daughter missing on March 30.
After tracking the cellphones of Brice and her boyfriend, 23-year-old Justin Smith, investigators located a body in a pile of debris at 5800 Eastwick Ave. in West Philly. An autopsy confirmed the identity as Brice and revealed that the cause of death was several gunshots to the head.
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Smith's car was found engulfed in flames in the area of 59th and Florence streets in Philadelphia, about a mile from where police found Brice’s body.
On Sunday, 21-year-old Tylydia Garnett was arrested in connection with Brice's death. Police say she helped Smith dump Brice's body and set the evidence on fire. Police believe Smith is the one who shot Brice.
“(Garnett) then further followed him while he set his own car on fire,” said Chesley Lightsey, chief of the Philadelphia homicide and nonfatal shooting unit. “We believe that is where he murdered Ms. Brice, in that vehicle, and then Ms. Garnett fled to Miami, Florida. She is back in town. She has been arrested.”
Garnett is charged with arson, criminal conspiracy, use of communication facility, abuse of corpse and other related offenses.
However, Garnett is currently out on 10% of $75,000 bail. Lightsey said they wanted her held without bail.
“That number is way too low,” she said. “Everybody deserves their day in court, and we look forward to ours against Ms. Garnett. ... She literally has a dead woman, who was pregnant, and she’s loading that body into her car, purchasing the gasoline, and then fleeing to Florida afterward. I mean, it’s a disgrace.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner agreed her bail was set too low.
“We’re down to $7,500 gets you out, and if you go to a bail bondsman, most of them with take one-third of that,” he said.
Brice's death has been ruled a homicide. She also leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter.
Smith is still missing and there is a warrant for his arrest. Anyone with any information on Smith's whereabouts is asked to call police, as the investigation is still active and ongoing.