Cherokee sheriff: Mistake made during Rivera investigation

By Andria Simmons

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two Cherokee County Sheriff's deputies will face disciplinary action for failing to immediately report blood they saw in a vacant apartment while a search was underway for missing 7-year-old Jorelys Rivera.

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Johnny Crawford, jcrawford@ajc.com Joseline Rivera (center), mother of Jorelys Rivera , looks down at her daughter's casket after the public funeral service. Rivera will be buried in Puerto Rico.

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Family photo 7-year-old Jorelys Rivera of Canton.

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The two uniformed deputies, one a trainee and another a 3-year veteran, were assisting in the search for the girl who had disappeared Dec. 2 from the River Ridge apartment complex playground.

Rivera's body was found three days later in an industrial trash compactor. Police say she had been sexually assaulted, stabbed and beaten.

Ryan Brunn, a 20-year-old maintenance worker, was arrested Dec. 7 and has been charged in Jorelys' death. He is being held at the Cherokee County jail without bond.

Sheriff Roger Garrison said the officers were among a host of volunteers including non-law enforcement personnel and Cherokee County fighters looking for the missing little girl Dec. 3. The officers didn't report the blood discovery until 24 hours later when agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation got the scene.

Garrison said at the time the deputies were not looking for a crime scene.

It was only when the GBI arrived and began debriefing everyone on the evening of Dec. 4 that the two officers reported being in a vacant apartment filled with trash and seeing a small amount of blood "like you would see with a nosebleed," Garrison said. That apartment, police think, was the crime scene.

"These officers both feel extremely bad about what happened," Garrison said. "They thought they were doing the best they could. They were moving to other parts of the building to try to get a lot accomplished very fast and in their haste, they made a mistake."

Garrison declined to name the two officers Tuesday, but said their identities would be disclosed next week when the internal investigation file becomes public record. He also said the punishment they will face has not yet been decided, but their lapse in judgment was likely not a fireable offense.

Autopsy results showed Jorelys died within a few hours of being abducted, perhaps before police were called.

Garrison said the outcome of this case would not have been impacted "in any shape, form or fashion" because of the deputies' error.

Jorelys was buried in her native Puerto Rico on Tuesday.