State Police have arrested a man in connection with the disappearance and death of missing ECSU student Alyssiah Wiley.
Jermaine Richards, 30, was charged with murder Saturday afternoon, hours after police confirmed remains found in a wooded area of Trumbull were those of Wiley.
Richards turned himself in to Troop G State Police Barracks in Bridgeport Saturday afternoon, said police.
Family and friends of Alyssiah said Richards was her long time boyfriend.
Richards bail was set at $2,000,000 and he will appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Monday , said State Police spokesman, Lt. J. Paul Vance.
State Police began searching a wooded area off of Quarry Road early Friday morning. Around 10 a.m., a State Police Cadaver Dog alerted on what appeared to be human remains.
The Connecticut State Forensic Lab in Meriden confirmed that the remains in fact belonged to Wiley.
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Wiley, a sophomore at Eastern Connecticut State University, was last seen in Bridgeport. Richards claims that he dropped her off at a Dairy Queen near the campus in Willimantic at 11 p.m. on April 20.
Corinna Martin, Alyssiah's mother, said Major Crimes Detectives came to her door to personally tell her.
She praised police for their effort and also says her daughter was taken from her by a "selfish and malicious person" and that she loved God and God loves her.
"A young woman who lived life, had her goals set, knew where she wanted to go, and knew what she had to do to get there. And she loved it all to the fullest," Martin said.
The Office of the Chief State's Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the manner and cause of Wiley's death.
The search for the 20-year-old student stretched from Willimantic to Meriden, East Haven, West Haven and Ansonia.
