On February 5, 2019, the frozen lifeless body of a woman was found inside a suitcase that had been dumped in a wooded area in Greenwich, Connecticut. 

The discovery was made six days after 24-year-old Valerie Reyes had vanished from her home in New Rochelle, New York. The body was determined to be hers. 

As they worked the case, investigators focused on Reyes’ communication history for leads, as detailed in a preview of the “Portrait of a Tragedy” episode of Buried in the Backyard, airing Saturday, August 23 at 8/7c p.m. on Oxygen. 

“Valerie’s mother gave us access to Valerie’s cell phone account,” said Greenwich Police Department Det. Sgt. Pierangelo Corticelli. 

“Smartphones have a treasure trove of information,” he added. “People will do things on their smartphones that they will not confess to their parish priest.”

Investigators also canvassed Reyes’ personal network. “We reached out to one of Valerie’s friends named Naomi. She knew pretty much all [about] Valerie’s life,” said Det. Anthony Fiscella, now retired from the Greenwich Police Department. “Naomi gave us a list of people that Valerie had dated.” 

Men on the roster included Joe, a mechanic, as well as another individual named Javier. “She was dating on different dating apps on social media,” said Fiscella. “She was very social. This really expanded the number of suspects that could be her killer.”

Valerie Reyes’ phone records reveal a valuable clue

Detectives were essentially starting from scratch. “All options are on the table,” Corticelli told Buried in the Backyard. “Looking at Valerie’s phone information, we saw that on January 29, her phone was put into airplane mode at around 3 o’clock in the morning.”

The timing of that event became more significant when detectives looked into Reyes’ financial records. 

“Afterwards, we see that there were several withdrawals of Valerie’s money from her bank accounts,” Corticelli revealed. “At this point, it became even more important to find out through bank surveillance video who was making those withdrawals.”

Identifying who took Reyes’ money could lead detectives to the person who took her life. 

Find out more about how investigators solved the case by watching the “Portrait of a Tragedy” episode of Buried in the Backyard, airing Saturday, August 23 at 8/7c p.m. on Oxygen.