Jeff Maiorca, 53, has been charged with murder in California in connection with the death of his ex-wife, Jill Maiorca. The charge comes approximately two decades after Jill Maiorca's disappearance and six years after her remains were discovered.
Authorities stated that Jill Maiorca was 29 when she was killed. Her disappearance was reported in Big Bear Lake, southern California, in 2007. The San Bernardino county sheriff's department received a call in October 2020 regarding a suspicious discovery in a crawlspace under a residence in Big Bear Lake, where human remains were located.
An autopsy determined the manner of death was homicide, though the remains could not be immediately identified. In 2023, the cold homicide case team submitted the remains for additional DNA analysis, which identified them as Jill Maiorca. Investigators subsequently considered Jeff Maiorca, her former husband, as a suspect. Court records show he filed for divorce in 2004.
The sheriff's office asserted, citing unspecified evidence, that Jill Maiorca was murdered in November 2006 and her remains were concealed beneath the residence without the homeowner's knowledge. Jeff Maiorca was arrested on Monday and formally charged with murder and the use of a deadly weapon. He had an initial hearing on Wednesday and remains in custody without bail at the High Desert jail in Adelanto, California. He is tentatively scheduled to appear in court again on 12 October.