An 18-year-old girl reported missing to Livonia police officials on Monday, Sept. 15, was found dead in a suspected drug house in Detroit four days earlier.According to Livonia police, Valerie Pepe of Livonia was found dead in a house in the 19000 block of Riverview in Detroit on Thursday, Sept. 11. She had not been reported as missing until the following week.
Livonia Lt. Greg Winn said an anonymous call to the Detroit police department alerted them of the girl's body in a bathtub in the house.
She was transferred to Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The lag between the time she was found and the time she was positively identified is attributed, Winn said, to the lack of ID on the body. The Oakland County Coroner's office enlisted the help of local television stations to disseminate a composite picture of Pepe in an effort to identify someone they considered a Jane Doe.
According to Winn, the cause of death was an overdose of heroin and cocaine. She had no prior record of arrest.
Valerie, it has been years since I last saw you, but I remember the moment perfectly, and now I'm sure that I won't ever be able to forget it. I hope you had many caring people in your life who are now going to miss you. It is certainly very surreal to know that you are no longer with us. Rest in peace.
