Medical examiner identifies body found in Osceola County line as missing teen

Sanel Saint Simon prime suspect in disappearance of Alexandria Chery

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Medical Examiner's Office identified on Wednesday the body found in Osceola County as missing 16-year-old Alexandria Chery.

The Orange County teen was reported missing last week by her mother. Alexandria's family told Local 6 over the weekend that a body found near the Osceola-Polk County line has been identified as Alexandria's, but medical examiners officially identified the badly decomposed body on Wednesday with dental records.

Her mother's boyfriend, Sanel Saint Simon, 43, has a $100,000 bond set on felony obstruction of a criminal investigation charges and $100,000 bond on tampering with evidence in the disappearance of Alexandria.

Saint Simon remains in jail. He has not been charged with murder and the state attorney's office said it is waiting on evidence from Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Orange County deputies released a statement on Wednesday after the medical examiner's office announced its findings, saying "We hope this brings a small measure of closure to the family of Miss Chery. The OCSO Homicide Unit is continuing its thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding Miss Chery's tragic death."

In Tuesday's bond hearing, prosecutors said Saint Simon repeatedly lied and swore he was at work when they had him leaving on surveillance video. Prosecutors said Saint Simon called his uncle and asked for him to lie in Creole, while being recorded during an interview with investigators.

Saint Simon's bond was reduced in the bond hearing and prosecutors argued that if he posts bond, he'll flee to Haiti.

"Mr. Saint Simon knows that he is a suspect in this investigation, that the Orange County Sheriff's Office continues to work that investigation with our other partners and I question why somebody would want to stay around in the community knowing that this investigation is continuing to go forward and we're finding new evidence every day," said Assistant State Attorney Ryan Vescio.

Check back Local 6 and ClickOrlando.com for more on this story.


About the Authors:

Erik von Ancken anchors and reports for News 6 and is a two-time Emmy award-winning journalist in the prestigious and coveted "On-Camera Talent" categories for both anchoring and reporting.

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