As rumors swirled as to whether a sexual relationship gone sour contributed to the disappearance of a local woman, coroner officials worked to confirm the identity of a body found Tuesday just a mile or so north of Lake Skinner near Temecula.
Brittany Killgore was last seen about 5 p.m. Friday, April 13 in the Fallbrook area. (Courtesy photo)
Fallbrook resident Brittany Killgore, 22, was last seen about 5 p.m. Friday in the Fallbrook area, where she shared a home with her estranged Camp Pendleton-based Marine husband, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
Just hours after authorities took Jessica Lynn Lopez, 25, into custody on suspicion of murder, a body belonging to a female was found by a road maintenance worker at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday off Borel and Warren roads, according to officials.
Read Officials on scene after discovery of body near Lake Skinner
While San Diego Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Nesbit would not confirm the relationship between Killgore and Lopez at a press conference on Tuesday, he did say that investigators from the San Diego Sheriff’s Department were already on scene combing the area in Lake Skinner when the body was found.
Nesbit would not comment on the condition of the body nor would he speculate on manner of death.
Lopez, who turned 25 the day Killgore disappeared, is the second person named by authorities in connection with the case.
On Sunday, a 45-year-old Marine named Louis Ray Perez was jailed on suspicion of possessing an AR-15 military assault rifle stolen from Camp Pendleton, where he is based.
Authorities said Perez was with Killgore just before she went missing and was being investigated in connection with the disappearance.
Perez was scheduled to be arraigned on the weapon charge at the Vista courthouse this afternoon. As of early today, authorities had not cleared Perez of possible involvement in the Killgore case, despite the Lopez arrest.
On announcing Lopez’ arrest, sheriff’s Capt. Duncan Fraser told reporters she had been admitted to UCSD Medical Center under guard after an apparent suicide attempt.
Lopez was taken into custody at a motel on Rosecrans Street in the Midway District of San Diego. She was released from the hospital and booked into the Las Colinas Detention Facility in Santee shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday, according to jail records.
Court records showed Killgore filed for divorce last week. Her husband, Cory, was in the process of being sent home from Afghanistan due to his wife’s disappearance.
Killgore’s husband was deployed in Afghanistan when she went missing and is not suspected in the disappearance, authorities said.
*City News Service contributed to this report.
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[...] known whether or not Perez was directly involved but, prior to the discovery of the body, he was accused of having stolen an AR-15 assault rifle from Camp Pendleton, where he is stationed. Detectives noted that Perez was uncooperative during the questioning, and they seem to believe he [...]