It’s been nearly a year since MSU graduate student Michelle Salerno disappeared from East Lansing.
Monday, her family learned of her whereabouts.
Salerno, who would have received her master’s degree in speech therapy in May, was identified as the body found Friday in an Ohio landfill, an autopsy confirmed Monday.
She was last seen June 29.
“The last year’s been pretty much a nightmare,” said Patricia Rizzi, Salerno’s mother. “I feel like a two-ton weight has been lifted off my back.”
Rizzi, her husband Mario Rizzi, daughter Marie Jablonski and son Patrick Rizzi gathered for a press conference in East Lansing to make the announcement and thank police for finding Salerno.
“They never gave up and they never let me give up,” Patricia Rizzi said. “They said they never would quit and they never did quit.”
A team of investigators, including East Lansing police, Michigan State Police and Ohio agencies, began searching the construction debris dump near Bowling Green State University several days ago.
The Lucas County, Ohio, coroner was able to identify Salerno, a native of Swanton, Ohio, and a 1999 Bowling Green graduate, using dental records, East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said.
However, officials would not comment on how Salerno died or if someone would be charged in her death.
“I can’t imagine what the family has gone through,” East Lansing police Chief Louis Muhn said. “Hopefully this can give them some closure.”
Her family had initially hoped she would be found alive, but those hopes faded quickly after she failed to make several family engagements or call home, her father, Mario Rizzi, said.
“We knew something had happened because it’s not like her to lose contact,” he said.
Authorities believe Salerno, 26, was killed last summer. Her 1986 burgundy Plymouth Reliant station wagon was found July 6 in downtown Toledo with blood in the back seat.
Police had unsuccessfully searched areas in Mount Pleasant and Toledo for her body.
Salerno’s estranged husband, Dennis Salerno, is being held in an Ohio jail charged with killing Larry McClanahan of Moscow, Ohio. Salerno has told police McClanahan killed his wife.
It’s long been believed that Dennis Salerno, 30, knew the location of his wife’s body. He was reportedly helping investigators find her remains Thursday, but officials declined to comment on his involvement or if Wood County, Ohio, prosecutors had reached a deal with him to locate the body.
The family is planning for a funeral in the Toledo area to celebrate the life of their loved one who had a “beautiful smile and a good heart,” Patricia Rizzi said.
Michelle Salerno, who had grown up with a speech problem, had worked in MSU’s Oyer Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic while pursuing her master’s degree.
“She wanted to help people who had a problem like hers,” Mario Rizzi said.
Her father said the family has been touched by the outpouring of help and support from the East Lansing area. He said no business turned down requests to put posters up and remembered a large lily sent to the family from campus.
“The students, they sent us flowers and letters. Each one wrote something,” he said. “The sad thing is a lot of handicapped children and people my daughter was devoted to helping are going to be without people who cared.
“That’s really sad.”
Jeremy W. Steele can be reached at steelej7@msu.edu.
