Murder Charges Filed In Gaithersburg Teen's Gang-Related Slaying: Police

GAITHERSBURG, MD — One day after Fairfax County Police charged 10 people for abduction and gang participation in the death of a 15-year-old from Gaithersburg, Virginia detectives have obtained murder charges for five suspects, two adults and three teenagers. The remains of Damaris Reyes Rivas, of Gaithersburg, who was reported missing in December, were found Saturday near a Springfield, Virginia industrial park.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, through an autopsy, has ruled Reyes Rivas' death a homicide, police said. In a Thursday afternoon news conference, Colonel Edwin C. Roessler Jr., chief of the Fairfax County Police Department, said there was "video evidence" that suggested the teen had been murdered in the Lake Accotink area of Fairfax County.

The five suspects charged with murder are:

• Jose Ivan Castillo Rivas, 18, 5800 block of Brunswick Street, Springfield
• Wilmer A. Sanchez Serrano, 21, of no fixed address
• A 17-year-old Alexandria-area girl
• Two 17-year-old boys; one of Annandale, the other of Springfield

Watch a video of the FCPD news conference here:

All 10 suspects involved in the victim’s abduction and murder are in custody, police said. Two suspects are awaiting extradition to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center.

Questions are being raised about why Montgomery County Police, who frequently use social media to release photos and information about missing residents, never issued such an alert for Reyes Rivas, 15. While police tracked her cell phone and social media use, and made flyers to hand out in Gaithersburg, the department didn't issue a missing person alert on its Facebook or Twitter accounts, which it does frequently in similar cases.

Tuesday afternoon, Montgomery County Police responded to queries about how the department handled the missing person's report for Reyes Rivas. Authorities say the teen was entered as a missing person in the National Crime Information Center database, which is available to law enforcement nationwide. Information about the girl and her photograph were also placed on an internal Montgomery County Police website.

Investigators say Reyes Rivas' mother told them her daughter had left home before and while she was gone, the teen remained in contact with her mother. When Damaris learned her mother made plans to have her daughter live out-of-state with a family member, she left home again on Dec. 10. Detectives contacted Montgomery County Public School officials, along with Damaris' friends to locate her, and monitored her social media account and cell phone, and conducted surveillance of areas she was believed to frequent.

Police say a missing person flyer that included Damaris’ photograph and physical description was distributed in Gaithersburg and part of Fairfax County. The teen’s family shared the flyers on social media, but they weren't shared on the police department's Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Montgomery County investigators are reviewing steps taken in the case, as well as police department practices regarding critical missing persons.

Patch Editors Elizabeth Janney and Deb Belt contributed reporting for this story.

PHOTO of Damaris Alexandra Reyes Rivas courtesy of Fairfax County Police/Montgomery County Police