That same day, Anyanwu-Corbin had told Boston officers that she had been assaulted by Denver Petit-Homme, 24, of Dorchester, who has been described alternately in police reports as a boyfriend or as an ex-boyfriend.

The skeletal remains of Anyanwu-Corbin, 22, were found last week in a wooded part of Dedham. She had last been seen in Dorchester at about 4 p.m. on Feb. 11, 2016, according to a missing person’s report filed by her uncle, George Corbin of Cambridge.

Soon after a relative saw Susan Anyanwu-Corbin alive for the last time, a Dorchester man was charged with assaulting her, an accusation that was dismissed months later because she didn’t appear in court to testify, records show.


Authorities haven’t determined how Anyanwu-Corbin died or whether foul play was a factor, but State Police returned Wednesday to the area in Dedham where her body was found to search for evidence, said David Traub, spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney’s office.

He declined to say whether investigators have spoken with Petit-Homme.

“It’s fair to say that Dedham, Boston, and State Police have been interviewing those who knew Susan and those around her since her identity was established,” Traub said.

Petit-Homme couldn’t be reached Wednesday, and his current defense attorney didn’t return a message.

He is being held on $1,500 bail after he allegedly rammed a Boston police cruiser and attempted to run down an officer in Dorchester last month, records show. Shortly after that incident, officials placed an immigration detainer on Petit-Homme, a native of Haiti, in part because of his criminal history, a federal official said. Detainers mark the first step in potential deportation proceedings.

Court records and police reports suggest Anyanwu-Corbin, who is from Nigeria, faced hard times when she was last seen alive. George Corbin had reported her missing on May 9, but he said he last saw her months before, records show. He couldn’t be reached Wednesday.


The same day Corbin last saw Anyanwu-Corbin, Boston officers found her bleeding from a cut on top of her nose, according to a police report filed in court. They were called to her residence in Dorchester at 12:35 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2016.

Anyanwu-Corbin told officers she fought with Petit-Homme after she called him because her apartment key didn’t work, the report said. During the fight, Petit-Homme allegedly punched Anyanwu-Corbin in the face as he held keys and a cellphone in his hand and then fled, the report said.

Later that day, Anyanwu-Corbin appeared in Dorchester Municipal Court, where she was being prosecuted over allegations that she had violated a restraining order on Nov. 3, 2015 by banging on the door of Petit-Homme’s home on Westcott Street, records show.

A judge had granted the restraining order to Petit-Homme in October 2015, but he later asked for it to be dismissed.

On June 6, nearly a month after Anyanwu-Corbin was reported missing, the charges based on the allegations that Petit-Homme assaulted her in February 2016 were dropped, records show. A spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney’s office, which handled the case, declined to comment Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation in Dedham.

Attorney Christine Fosco, who represented Petit-Homme, said Wednesday that Anyanwu-Corbin didn’t cooperate with her or prosecutors while the case was pending. When Petit-Homme’s charges were dismissed, Fosco said, she hadn’t been told that Anyanwu-Corbin had been reported missing.


Petit-Homme has also been prosecuted for violence against Junior Bernard, a Dorchester man who has said he was Anyanwu-Corbin’s boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, records show.

In January, Petit-Homme admitted to sufficient facts in a case in which he was accused of threatening to shoot Bernard and another man as he pointed a gun at them on Washington Street in Dorchester, records show. The confrontation occurred Aug. 6.

A few weeks earlier, Bernard, 24, and Petit-Homme got into a fight in the loading area of an Amazon facility in Dedham, a police report said. During the confrontation, one of the men dropped a firearm, but the report didn’t identify who carried the weapon. No charges were filed, Traub said.

During an interview on Monday, Bernard said he also fought with Petit-Homme on Feb. 11, 2016, the same day Anyanwu-Corbin’s uncle said he last saw her alive.

Evan Allen of the Globe staff contributed. Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi.