A man charged with murder in the disappearance 33 years ago of a 13-year-old Milwaukee girl has confessed that he pushed her down stairs to her death.

A criminal complaint against 50-year-old Jose Ferreira said he told authorities he pushed Carrie Ann Jopek during a party in 1982. He told police he saw her hit her head and thought she was unconscious. He later realised her neck was broken, he said.

The document said Ferreira told authorities he buried the girl under a porch, where her body was found 17 months later.

Ferreira was arrested last week after he called a crisis helpline and local television station and discussed case details. He has been charged with second-degree murder and faces 20 years in prison.

“It’s been 33 years since she’s been gone,” the girl’s mother, Carolyn Tousignant, said after Ferreira was taken into custody. “I’ve been praying for this day.”



The case resurfaced last week when WISN 12 News reported that Ferreira called its newsroom and discussed the case.

“His story was very detailed, disturbingly so,” Chris Gegg, the station’s news director, said on Sunday.

Gegg didn’t elaborate, but said the station called police because of “several red flags”. Ferreira was later arrested in the case, which had long been dormant.

Jopek disappeared after she was suspended from school for roaming the halls. Tousignant said her daughter got kicked out on purpose so she could go to a house party.

Tousignant said the school called and gave her the option of picking the girl up from the office, but she chose not to because they lived only a block away. It was a decision she came to regret.

“I blame myself sometimes,” the girl’s mother said. “She would’ve snuck over there anyway.”

Tousignant started searching the neighborhood when she realized her daughter was missing, and even went to the home where her body was later found. The case went quiet until someone repairing an old deck came across the girl’s body.

“She spent two of her birthdays underneath that porch,” Tousignant said.

Ferreira was a teenager when Jopek died. He is now 50, and it’s not clear why he chose to call the TV station and helpline.

“I never put it out of my mind,” said Tousignant. “Every time I watch Cold Case or some other detective show, I would hope and pray one of these days we get the person who did that to Carrie.

“I miss her so much.”

