04-08-2011, 08:49 AM
Investigators have executed at least seven search warrants in the past week on various vehicles and property associated with the boyfriend of Alivia Kail, a Mount Washington teenager who disappeared more than a month ago under mysterious circumstances.
An eighth search warrant executed by Bethel Park police sought a DNA sample from the cheek of the boyfriend, Alexander P. Lorenzi, 22, of Esplen, in connection with a 2009 assault and home invasion in which a handgun was stolen and blood was left behind by one of the assailants.
That firearm was recovered by Allegheny County Police detectives last week from Mr. Lorenzi's home on Oregon Street when they searched the premises for information about Ms. Kail.
Police have not said whether they believe Ms. Kail, 19, is alive, what might have happened to her, or what role they think Mr. Lorenzi might have played in her disappearance, if any.
The search warrants for Mr. Lorenzi's home, his leased car, and three vehicles owned by his family seek DNA evidence of Ms. Kail, her personal belongings and ballistic evidence.
A search began for Ms. Kail after her family reported her missing March 19 to West Mifflin police.
Her sister, Camille Miller, told police she last saw Ms. Kail leaving their brother's West Mifflin home March 5 in a red Ford Explorer registered to Mr. Lorenzi's father. The brother, Lance Kail, told police she was going to Florida with Mr. Lorenzi.
Ms. Miller informed detectives that the sport utility vehicle was parked in a South Side lot on Bradish Street.
Police said Mr. Lorenzi was seen back in Pittsburgh on March 16; there has been no sign of Ms. Kail.
Mr. Lorenzi's attorney, Douglas Sughrue, claimed Wednesday in an interview that the family had provided false information that the police knowingly used in order to obtain a search warrant.
"That Ford Explorer is impossible to operate for the last two years. I'm not going to tell you why. Ask the police. They know why," Mr. Sughrue said.
Asked why police would include incorrect information in a sworn affidavit, Mr. Sughrue said, "Because they want all the information they [can] get and they don't care how accurate it is, so they can execute search warrants."
County police declined comment.
Ms. Kail's mother, Christine DiDiano, said Wednesday she did not have information on the Ford Explorer or what her daughter told police, but she bristled at the suggestion that the family was lying.
"No one is lying to police. No, absolutely not," Ms. Didiano said. "Bottom line is he [Alex] holds the key to my daughter's whereabouts and what has been done to her . . . Her clothes are at his house . . . Well where is she?"
Inside a truck parked in Mr. Lorenzi's garage police found a pink tote filled with clothing that was identified by Ms. Kail's family as belonging to her.
Mr. Sughrue said that Ms. Kail accompanied Mr. Lorenzi to Florida by plane in late February and returned with him around March 3. Asked whether she was with Mr. Lorenzi after that date, he would not say.
In searching Mr. Lorenzi's leased car, police found a bottle of bleach on the rear seat, two cell phone chargers and a pink stuffed animal.
Police said Mr. Lorenzi made conflicting statements to relatives and friends about Ms. Kail. None of those statements, however, were apparently made to police.
Detectives characterized Mr. Lorenzi as uncooperative, but Mr. Sughrue disputed that.
"We have been cooperating. We have been open, and we hope to be more so in the future," he said.
Mr. Sughrue declined to say whether he or his client knew where Ms. Kail was or whether anything happened to her.
"That's gonna be between us and law enforcement when we work out the details to talk," Mr. Sughrue said.
In the Bethel Park case, detectives have been searching for two men who entered a home on Milford Drive in January 2009 seeking drugs and guns.
They made off with "numerous firearms" and a small amount of marijuana, the search warrant affidavit said.
The men, who were wearing ski masks, beat a female victim, fracturing her skull.
Bethel Park police wrote that Mr. Lorenzi "matches the general physical description" of one of the attackers.
A detective obtained Mr. Lorenzi's DNA sample while he was being processed at the Allegheny County Jail on charges related to the stolen gun and drugs found March 30 at his Esplen home.
Bethel Park police Chief John Mackey could not be reached for comment on the home invasion case.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11097/1137725-100.stm