A 51-year-old man has been charged in connection with the death of a missing teen whose remains were discovered in the Salton Sea area two months ago.
The Imperial County district attorney’s office charged Abraham H. Feinbloom on Tuesday with murder and two enhancements related to the use and discharge of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Feinbloom pleaded not guilty, according to court records and prosecutors. He faces 50 years to life in prison if found guilty on all charges.
The charges came five days after authorities arrested Feinbloom and served a search warrant at his home in the 2800 block of Harlequin Court in Salton City, where the teen girl was last seen, according to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office and the teen’s mother.
Authorities said Feinbloom had long been a person of interest in the missing person case of 17-year-old T’Neya Tovar.
Her mother, Chaya Tovar, reported her missing in December. Tovar did not respond to a request for comment. But Tovar chronicled her efforts to find her daughter on her Facebook account, beginning on Dec. 17 when she sought help from the public in locating her.
“She has not been on social media and her phone was going straight to voicemail. A friend of hers dropped her off almost 2 weeks ago and has not heard from her,” Tovar wrote on Facebook. “The police were sent to the last address where she was dropped off. No one answered and the doors were locked. The police said there’s nothing they can do.”
On Dec. 21, Tovar posted videos from her daughter’s social media account that Tovar said were taken at the home where her daughter was last seen. She did not say when the recordings were made.
Hours after her post, deputies assigned to the Salton City sheriff’s station responded to a call about the discovery of human remains in Salton City. They later determined it was a human leg.
On Dec. 24, Tovar posted a missing person flier that showed photos of her daughter along with a physical description that included a tattoo on the back of her left hand.
The flier identified Feinbloom as a person of interest. It also included his home address.
On Jan. 5, Tovar posted a photo of a U-Haul truck parked in Feinbloom’s driveway.
“He is trying to leave,” Tovar alleged in her post.
Two days later, she responded to a post on the Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook account after it released details about the discovery of a human leg and sought help from the public to identify the victim.
Tovar connected with investigators, who took a DNA sample from her and compared it with the DNA from the limb.
On Feb. 6, the Sheriff’s Office said there had been a match and determined the leg belonged to Tovar’s daughter. Investigators said they have been unable to find the rest of the teen’s body.
On Feb. 13, the Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at Feinbloom’s house, where they say he attempted to flee.
He was arrested and booked into Imperial County Jail on suspicion of murder and resisting a peace officer. Prosecutors, however, have charged him only with murder and the two enhancements.
Feinbloom has had other run-ins with the law. In 2014, he was charged with multiple fraud offenses, but the charges were dismissed, according to court records. Four years later, he was charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment, but the case was also dismissed, court records show.
Investigators said they have not determined a motive for the alleged killing of the teenage girl. The Sheriff’s Office said the investigation was conducted with assistance from the FBI, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and the district attorney’s office.
On the night before Feinbloom’s arrest, Tovar took to Facebook to post an update on her daughter’s case. She posted a memorial-style photo of her daughter.
The teen is wearing black glasses and braided hair styled in a bun with blue highlights. She’s resting her hand near her chin, and above her are the words “RIP T’neya Tovar”
Behind her are large, glowing angel wings set against a golden, cloudy sky, creating a heavenly theme. At the bottom of the picture, it reads, “Gone too soon.”
