Cold Case Murder Of Young Mother Solved After 20 Years: Police

MIAMI, FL — Nearly 20 years after her death, Berkley Calvin Curtis Jr. was arrested Tuesday for the murder of Rebecca Peña, Miami-Dade police tweeted. He faces second-degree murder charges.

Peña went missing in the early morning hours of April 11, 2001. She was last seen alive around 2:15 a.m. as she walked to her car in a Liberty City parking lot after finishing filming a scene as an extra for Will Smith’s movie “Ali,” South Florida Media Network reported.

The young mother’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase that was thrown in the Biscayne Canal near NW 153rd Street and I-95 on April 16, a report from Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers said.

She and Curtis had been in a relationship at the time of her death. Peña had been granted a restraining order against him from Broward County and had also filed a domestic-violence lawsuit against him, SFMN reported. Based on handwritten letters filed as evidence in that suit, she reportedly feared for her life, as Curtis had threatened to kill her several times.

In a tweet, Miami-Dade police said they worked closely with Katherine Fernandez Rundle, a prosecutor for the state attorney’s office, and the Coral Springs Police Department to build a case against Curtis and “bring closure to Rebecca Peña’s family.”

Rundle tweeted, “Thank you (Miami-Dade police) for always continuing to investigate (and) explore cold cases for the sake of our victims (and) their suffering families.”