Arrest, body discovery in search for Calif. woman

[April 18, 2012]  SAN DIEGO (AP) -- One woman was arrested on suspicion of murder. The body of another was discovered near a lake some 70 miles away.

The connection between them, and just about everything else in the case, remained murky as authorities investigated the disappearance of a U.S. Marine's wife from San Diego County.

"There are too many loose ends to try to make any sense of it at this point," said Lt. Larry Nesbit, the lead homicide detective in the case, told KCAL-TV.

Jessica Lynn Lopez, 27, was arrested at a Ramada Inn near the San Diego airport, sheriff's Capt. Duncan Frasier said at a Tuesday news conference in San Diego.

Later in the day to the north in Riverside County near Temecula, a woman's body was discovered about a mile from Lake Skinner, Frasier said.

Detectives searching for Brittany Dawn Killgore, who has been missing since Friday, found the body after it was spotted by a maintenance worker leaving the area after clearing brush, Nesbit told several media outlets at the scene where the body was found.

The woman's identity could not be confirmed until a coroner's investigation, authorities said

The area where she was found is about 70 miles northeast of San Diego and 25 miles northeast of Killgore's home in Fallbrook.

Lopez was under guard at University of California, San Diego Medical Center with self-inflicted wounds and will be taken to jail after she's treated, Nesbit said.

Sheriff's officials said they were also investigating another Marine, Louis Ray Perez, 45, who was the last person seen with Killgore. Authorities have not disclosed the nature of their relationship.

Perez was arrested Sunday on an unrelated charge of possessing an AR-15 rifle stolen from Camp Pendleton, but Frasier said "he is being actively investigated in this disappearance."

He remained jailed on $500,000 bail.

Killgore's estranged husband -- a Marine vehicle operator in Afghanistan -- was returning to California on emergency leave after being informed she was missing.

Brittany Killgore went missing after filing for divorce from Lance Cpl. Cory Killgore last week.

Her cellphone was found in the Gaslamp District of downtown San Diego, but authorities said it was unclear whether she actually left Fallbrook, where she lives.

Cory Killgore, 22, could be back at Camp Pendleton by the end of the week, said 1st Lt. Alex Lim, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Division.

"One of his loved ones is missing and I can only hope the best for him," Lim said.

Authorities have said Killgore is not suspected in the disappearance of his wife.'"

[Associated Press; By ELLIOT SPAGAT]

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