Richard Vandervelde, 54, Murders Mother Then Threw Her Body Down A Manhole

Colorado woman, 82, is found dead in trash bag and stuffed in manhole at her home four years after going missing: Son, 54, is charged with murder and tampering with human remains 

A Colorado woman's son has been charged with murder after her body was found inside a trash bag and stuffed in a manhole at her home four years after she went missing. Sylvia Frens, 82 of Grand Junction, was reported missing on May 29, 2018, by 'concerned family members,' the Grand Junction Police Department said in a statement. Later that year, her son, Richard Vandervelde, 54 - who lived with her at the time - told them she had taken off to California with a friend. With no new address set up and no social media activities, police determined she was dead, but kept the investigation into her disappearance open. On Wednesday, police announced that detectives obtained a warrant to search the home in March 2022 after they new homeowners reported finding a trash bag in a manhole. They discovered a body had been stuffed into the bag. Using DNA testing, they were able to confirm Frens' identity and said she died from a blunt force trauma to the head. Her son was arrested in Florida on May 19 and was charged with six felonies and one misdemeanor and extradited to the Mesa County Jail. He has been charged with first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body, identity fraud, theft of $5,000 to $20,000, motor vehicle theft, and abuse of a corpse, and crimes against an at-risk adult. Source