An arrest has been made in the death of a Cornelia woman. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says Angel DeJesus Rivera-Sanches, 24, of Cornelia, will be charged with murder in connection to Minelys Rodriguez’s death.
On Monday, Oct. 28, GBI agents arrested Rivera-Sanches in Atlanta on charges of kidnapping related to Rodriguez’s disappearance. He was taken to the Habersham County Detention Center and booked on the kidnapping charge.
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the GBI on Friday, October 25.
Police say the 25-year-old missing woman from Cornelia was found dead on Furniture Drive, a road parallel to the Cornelia Walmart – which was Rodriguez’s last known location.
The remains have been taken to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office, where a medical examiner will conduct an autopsy, according to the GBI report.
Vanished from Walmart
Rodriguez was reported missing on Oct. 22 after going to Walmart to sell someone a photo, her mother told Now Habersham. She never saw her daughter again.
Her last known communication was with her fiancé, Julio Tovor, who said he received a text message from her around 9:30 that night. He had been texting Minelys before he went to sleep.
The next morning, when Tovor woke up, he said she still was not home. He said he felt something was not right and called Rodriguez’s mother, Carmen Ramirez, to see if she had heard from Minelys, better known to her family and friends as ‘Mimi.’
“I am waiting for the brother to pick him up,” the message said. Those were the last words Tovor said he received in a text from Rodriguez’s phone.
“It didn’t make sense. She doesn’t talk like that,” he told Now Habersham several days after his fiancé’s disappearance.
A Habersham County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson says there is no threat to public safety. According to the GBI, the investigation into Rodriguez’s murder remains “active and ongoing.”
Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to contact the GBI at 800-597-8477, use the See Something, Send Something mobile app, or submit tips online.
