Ex-husband arrested after missing Big Bear Lake woman's body found under home
Jeff Maiorca was taken into custody on murder suspicion after investigators uncovered the remains of his missing ex-wife, Jill Maiorca, beneath a Big Bear Lake residence.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department arrested Jeff Maiorca, 53, on suspicion of murdering his ex-wife, Jill Maiorca, who was reported missing in 2007. The breakthrough came after a Big Bear Lake homeowner reported a strange find in the crawlspace of their house, where detectives uncovered human remains in 2020. Initial tests could not identify the victim, but later DNA analysis matched the bones to Jill, who was 29 at the time of her disappearance.
Jeff Maiorca, who filed for divorce in 2004, is being held without bail. Officials have not disclosed the specific evidence linking him to the crime and continue to seek information from the public.
Why it matters
The arrest resolves a decades-old missing-person case and highlights advances in DNA technology for cold-case investigations.
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