WORCESTER — Nearly a decade after 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver was found dead in a suitcase at the side of a highway, authorities have made an arrest in the case.

The boy from Fitchburg had been missing for seven months before his remains were found off Interstate 190 in Sterling in April 2014.

Alberto Sierra Jr., 32, the boyfriend of the boy's mother at the time, was indicted early Wednesday by a Worcester grand jury. Later, he was arrested for murder and disinterring of a body, according to the office of District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

Sierra is due to be arraigned in Worcester Superior Court on Thursday.

Sierra and the boy's mother, Elsa Oliver, faced multiple charges in the days and years after the boy's death. Some of the charges involved assaults of Jeremiah and his siblings. Both were charged with kidnapping and endangerment of a child. Both were sentenced to jail.

But until Wednesday, no one had been charged with the killing. It wasn't until February 2016, about two years after the body was found, that authorities deemed the case a homicide.

Jeremiah, who lived with his mother in an apartment at 276 Kimball St., was last seen alive by relatives on Sept. 14, 2013. But it wasn't until December that authorities became involved. The boy’s sister told school officials that he was missing.

The Fitchburg community responded quickly upon learning the boy had not been seen for months. A search of the neighborhood by friends was organized, and flyers with the boy's image were distributed.

Fitchburg and state police, aided by tracking dogs, scoured the area.

A state Department of Child & Family Services worker assigned to the case and their supervisor were fired for failing to conduct home checks on the boy. A third DCF employee was disciplined.

Sierra and Else Oliver were charged with child abuse within days.

Meantime, the boy's whereabouts remained a mystery. Months went by.

On April 18, 2014, authorities, acting on a tip, found the boy's body wrapped in a blanket in a suitcase off the southbound side of I-190 in Sterling. It was a jailhouse tip that apparently led to the discovery of the body.

Two weeks later, about 350 people filled Rollstone Congregational Church in Fitchburg for the boy's funeral. Jeremiah's father, Jose Oliver, who lived in Connecticut at the time, joined the mourners in remembering the boy who loved Spider-Man.

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This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Man charged in decade-old case of Jeremiah Oliver, boy found in suitcase off I-190