At the time of her disappearance, Jovita worked part time as a bartender in Imperial Beach, California. She had been separated from her husband, Michael Collazo, for about four years, but they were on good terms. They had a thirteen-year-old daughter together. Michael lived in Chula Vista, California and was working with the Navy. Collazo lived with her boyfriend, Michael Eugene Richardson, in an apartment on B Avenue in National City, California. A photo of Richardson is posted below this case summary.

On the day of her disappearance, Jovita went to her husband's apartment to do laundry and he went to work. About an hour later, Michael called home and asked to speak to Jovita. Their daughter said she'd gone out for beer shortly after he'd left for work and hadn't come back. After he didn't see or hear from Jovita for two days, Michael reported her missing.

When the police questioned Richardson, he said the last time he saw Jovita was at their apartment on the evening of April 30. They had both been drinking and they got into an argument, and Richardson demanded that she leave. She packed three suitcases and left at 8:30 p.m. He saw the taillights of a vehicle and assumed she must have gotten a ride. He stated he hadn't seen or heard from her since then. Police were suspicious of Richardson's story and suspected foul play. They considered him a person of interest in Jovita's disappearance, but they got no further in their investigation. Michael eventually took his and Jovita's daughter and moved to Washington state.

Investigators didn't realize in 1992 that Richardson was a fugitive; he had escaped from a North Carolina prison a decade before, while serving a 30-year sentence for armed robbery. He robbed a cab driver and shot him in the face. Police discovered this fact in 2000, while making a routine follow-up investigation into Jovita's case. By that time, Richardson had been a fugitive for 18 years. He was arrested and extradited to North Carolina, but he served very little time before being paroled. His parole ended in 2004; by this time, he was back in California.

Richardson's wife and mother-in-law were murdered in Lakeside, California in June 2010. In July 2010, police charged Richardson with a dozen sex crimes; he was allegedly having a sexual relationship with his seventeen-year-old niece. He was still in jail awaiting trial on those charges when he was charged with the double homicide in 2011. Authorities believe Richardson murdered his wife and mother-in-law because his wife found out about his relationship with his niece and reported it to the police.

Investigators took another look at Jovita's disappearance after the murder charges were filed against Richardson. In December 2010, he was charged with murdering Jovita as well, but the criminal complaint remained sealed from the public until February 2011. The prosecutor hasn't decided whether or not to seek the death penalty.

Richardson is awaiting trial for the murders. Foul play is suspected in Jovita's disappearance due to the circumstances involved.

Above: Michael Eugene Richardson, circa 2010