Missing North Carolina Woman: 3 Charged In Murder Of A 20-Year-Old Diagnosed With Cognitive Disability

Three people were charged Saturday for their alleged roles in the death of a Charlotte, North Carolina, woman who had been missing for nearly a week. The body of 20-year-old Mary Collins was found Saturday in Charlotte’s entertainment district, NoDa, also called North Davidson.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on Sunday announced the arrests of James Salerno, 19, Lavi Pham, 21, and Kelly Lavery, 24, who were charged with murder and kidnapping. Police declined Monday to say how the three are linked to Collins, according to the Charlotte Observer.

They were booked Sunday in Mecklenburg County Jail.

Pham, Salerno and Lavery will appear in court on Tuesday. Authorities did not say if bail had been set.

Jail records showed this was the first arrest for Pham. Lavery was arrested in May 2019 for simple assault and was released on the same day.

Salerno had been booked in Mecklenburg County Jail three times. The first was in September 2017 on charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery. He was booked again in February 2018 on multiple drug possession charges, followed by an arrest in June 2018 for drug possession.

Family members said Collins had a cognitive disability. She was reported missing around 11 p.m. on March 30 after she had not been in contact with family for nearly two days. A relative reportedly had told police that the last anyone in the family had seen of Collins was when she left to meet with friends in NoDa around 2:30 p.m. on March 28.

Collins' body was discovered near an apartment complex and declared dead at the scene.