Alivia Kail was in a great mood when she stopped by her brother’s West Mifflin, Pennsylvania home on March 4, 2011. The 19-year-old excitedly told her brother, Lance Kail, that she was going to Miami, Florida with her boyfriend, 22-year-old Alexander Lorenzi. Although Alivia had an apartment in nearby Mount Washington, she had stayed with her brother in the past and some of her belongings were still at his home. As she gathered some clothing and shoes to take to Florida, she told Lance that Alexander was paying for the entire trip. Alivia soon finished packing up her belongings and said goodbye to her brother. As Lance watched the couple climb into Alex’s car and drive off, he had no idea that he would never see his sister again.
The past year had been a rough one for Alivia. Her father, Gerald, was just 56 years old when he died in October 2010, and Alivia took the loss hard. According to her brother, Jeremy Kail, Alivia had struggled to get her life back together in the wake of their father’s death. In addition to losing her father, she and her longtime boyfriend, Zach Zilles, had broken up after three years of dating. Alivia seemed to be doing better lately; she had gotten an apartment with one of her best friends and had recently started dating Alexander.
Alivia’s mother, Christine DiDano, was surprised when she learned that her daughter was planning to go to Florida with Alexander. The couple had gone to Miami in late February; they had just returned to Pennsylvania on March 3rd. Unsure what was going on, Christine called her daughter’s cell phone, hoping to be able to talk her out of going back to Florida. Alivia didn’t answer the phone and never returned her mother’s call.
On her first trip to Florida, Alivia had called Lance as soon as the plane landed in Miami to let him know that she had arrived safely. He expected to hear from her when she arrived in Florida for the second time, but she never called. Lance made several attempts at reaching his sister, but all calls went straight to Alivia’s voicemail. Over the next two weeks, Alivia’s loved ones placed dozens of calls to her cell phone. They left messages begging her to call someone back, but she remained silent.
Although it appeared that Alivia’s phone was dead or turned off, her friends and family members continued to call it each day, hanging up when the call went straight to voicemail. Panic set in on March 19th, when Alivia’s phone was disconnected for non-payment. Realizing that something was terribly wrong, her family called the Allegheny County police and reported Alivia missing.
Alivia’s loved ones had a reason to worry. Detectives soon learned that Alexander had returned from Florida on March 16th — without Alivia. Although he refused to speak with police, according to his friends he had given conflicting accounts about what had happened to Alivia. He told some that she had decided to remain in Florida, while he told others that he had dropped her off at her Mount Washington apartment.
Alexander avoided speaking with any of Alivia’s family members or friends; after they made repeated attempts at contacting him, he disconnected his cell phone so they had no way to reach him. Christine was certain that Alexander knew exactly where her daughter was, but he continued to evade police. Detectives went to his last known address, but his brother referred them to Alexander’s attorney. They contacted the lawyer, but he refused to divulge his client’s location and told them that Alex had nothing to say to the investigators.
Detectives admitted that they were unsure if Alivia had made it to Florida or not. They contacted all jails and hospitals in Miami and the surrounding area but were unable to locate Alivia. They entered her information in a national database for missing persons and alerted all law enforcement agencies on the East Coast to be on the lookout for her.
On March 30th, investigators with the Allegheny County Police Department announced that they had arrested Alexander after finding three guns, marijuana, and cocaine during a search of his residence. One of the guns was a .22-caliber pistol that had been reported stolen in a Bethel Park, PA home invasion. Alexander was charged with receiving stolen property and possession of cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute. Although the charges were unrelated to Alivia’s disappearance, Alexander remained uncooperative and refused to answer any questions. His lawyer commented only that his client had a Second Amendment right to possess guns and firearms.
Officials executed six more search warrants covering various vehicles and property associated with Alexander over the next couple of days. During a search of his garage, investigators found several spent shell casings, a pink tote bag later determined to belong to Alivia, and a sheet stained with what appeared to be blood. They also searched a pickup truck belonging to Raymond Paul Lorenzi Excavating, a company owned by Alexander’s father. Inside the truck, detectives recovered several shell casings, a jewelry box containing earrings, and a plane ticket to Fort Myers, Florida. Cell phone records indicated that Alexander had been in Florida from March 9th to March 15th, but investigators found no evidence to suggest that Alivia had been with him.
Christine continued to believe that Alexander was holding back information concerning Alivia’s location. She noted that several items of Alivia’s clothing had been found during the search of Alexander’s property and she wanted answers. “He holds the key to my daughter’s whereabouts and what has been done to her. Her clothes are at his house…where is she?” Despite her plea, neither Alexander nor anyone from his family reached out to her.
On April 1st, police arrested Alivia’s ex-boyfriend, Zach, on an existing bench warrant. While he was in custody, he was interviewed about Alivia’s disappearance and told investigators that he had nothing to do with it. He also spoke with the news media, noting that he still loved Alivia and would never do anything to hurt her. His arrest was unrelated to Alivia’s case and he stressed to reporters that he was not considered a suspect.
There was little movement in the investigation over the next several months. In August 2011, police returned to Alexander’s residence after his new girlfriend accused him of beating her dog to death. While they were at the home, investigators found cocaine and $6,000 in cash. When they announced that they were placing Alexander under arrest, he assaulted a police officer. He was booked on these new charges but continued to maintain his silence on the subject of Alivia’s disappearance.
By March 2012, Alivia had been missing for a year and her family still had no idea what had happened to her. Her loved ones held a candlelight vigil to mark the somber anniversary and pray that they would get answers soon. Christine noted that it had been a heartbreaking year for the family but they were trying to hold out hope that Alivia was still alive.
Although Alexander still refused to cooperate with police and had made no attempts to contact Alivia’s family, his mother showed up on the night of the candlelight vigil. Genie Lorenzi refrained from participating in the vigil, instead remaining outside with various members of the news media. She was adamant that Alexander had nothing to do with the disappearance and expressed her displeasure that his name was always associated with the case, telling reporters that “My son has never been charged, never been arrested, nothing whatsoever to do with this.”
Christine noted that neither Alexander nor any of his family members had ever attempted to reach out to Alivia’s family and questioned Genie’s motives for waiting until the candlelight vigil to speak out. Genie made it clear that she had no desire to speak to Christine and had only come to talk with the reporters she knew would be there.
Alexander’s continued refusal to cooperate with detectives caused the investigation to stall, and by 2012 it was clear that the case was going cold. In January 2013, authorities announced that they believed Alivia might have been a victim of sex trafficking. Although this gave her family and friends hope that she could still be alive, the thought of what she might be forced to endure was heartbreaking.
In May 2013, officials conducted a search covering more than 40 acres of land surrounding the Allegheny County Airport. Detectives stated that a combination of information learned from cell phone records as well as interviews with dozens of people led them to believe that Alivia’s body might be located in that area. More than 80 people were involved in the search; although they did uncover several bones, it was determined that none of them were human.
Alivia’s case soon faded from the headlines. Six years after her disappearance, Christine noted that the family was still struggling to deal with her absence. She told reporters that her daughter was never out of her mind or heart, but the fact that Alivia’s fate remained unknown was hard for the family to take. “You have to learn to live with no answers.”
Alivia Kail was 19 years old when she went missing in 2011. She has blue/green eyes and brown hair, and at the time of her disappearance she was 5 feet tall and weighed 110 pounds. She was last seen wearing jeans and a black shirt along with either sneakers or UGG boots. She wears a diamond nose stud and has a tattoo of a blue lily on her right hip. If you have any information about Alivia, please contact the Allegheny County Police at 412–470–1300.
