Crime & Safety
Corona Couple Arrested On Suspicion Of Church Homicide
Javier Lopez Martinez, 44 of Corona & Maren Nichols, 37, were arrested and were transported and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Ctr
CORONA, CA — A Corona resident and his girlfriend suspected of killing a man and dumping his body outside a church were behind bars Friday.
Javier Lopez Martinez, 44, and Marena Nicolas, 37, also of Corona, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder for the alleged deadly attack on the victim, identified only as a man in his 30s, a week earlier.
Both suspects are being held in lieu of $1 million bail -- Martinez at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside, and Nicolas at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
According to the Corona Police Department, the victim's remains were discovered in the parking lot of the Corona Church of Christ in the 800 block of Sherman Avenue on the evening of Aug. 17.
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The nature of the man's injuries were not disclosed.
Homicide detectives initially had no leads, but in the ensuing days, they were able to confirm the vehicle allegedly involved in transporting the body and the two suspects inside it -- Martinez and Nicolas -- according to police.
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Late Wednesday afternoon, the car was spotted by patrol officers in the 1500 block of Via Santiago, prompting them to initiate a traffic stop. However, Martinez allegedly floored the sedan, leading to a brief pursuit until he plowed into vehicles parked in the 1200 block of West Tenth Street, authorities said.
He bailed out of the car and tried to run away but was apprehended moments later, police alleged.
"Several occupants of the parked vehicles sustained minor injuries and were offered medical treatment, then released at the scene," according to a police statement.
Nicolas was not in Martinez's car. However, further investigation led to an apartment on Via de Luna, where she was taken into custody without incident, according to a police spokesman.
The circumstances behind the killing and a possible motive were not disclosed.
Background information on the suspects was unavailable.
Authorities said the victim's name is being withheld because coroner's officials have still not been able to locate his family members to notify them about his death.
