Body Found, Woman Arrested in Missing Person Case

Updated 5:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Investigators searching for a missing 22-year-old North County military wife feared slain since last week found a body today in Riverside County, several hours after a woman was arrested on suspicion of murder in the case.

The discovery of the remains off Warren Road, near Lake Skinner, was made about 2:30 p.m., San Diego County Sheriff's Department Capt. Duncan Fraser said. It was not immediately clear if the body was that of Brittany Killgore of Fallbrook, whose whereabouts have been unknown for four days.

Killgore, whose husband is deployed overseas, disappeared Friday evening, allegedly after meeting up with a 45-year-old Louis Ray Perez, a Camp Pendleton-based Marine who subsequently was jailed on an unrelated weapon charge.

Homicide detectives were investigating Killgore's disappearance and believed there was "a strong likelihood" she was a "victim of foul play," sheriff's Lt. Larry Nesbit said earlier.

The second arrest in the investigation occurred late this morning, according to Fraser. Jessica Lynn Lopez, 27, was taken into custody at a motel on Rosecrans Street in San Diego and was expected to be booked on suspicion of murder.

The captain declined to discuss Lopez's alleged connection to the case. He told news crews the suspect had been admitted to UCSD Medical Center under guard and was expected to be booked on a murder charge upon her release from the Hillcrest hospital. Fraser also would not say why Lopez had required medical care.

On Sunday, a Camp Pendleton Marine was arrested. Investigators said they believe Louis Ray Perez, 45, was with Killgore just before she went missing. Perez was booked on an unrelated weapon charge, though he "is being actively investigated for this disappearance," Fraser told reporters.

After being questioned about Killgore, Perez was arrested on suspicion of possessing a stolen AR-15 military assault rifle. He was being held at San Diego Central Jail on $500,000 bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators went to the area where the corpse was found "based on leads stemming from the arrest of Lopez," Fraser said during a late-afternoon briefing. The captain told reporters he could release very limited information about the case before heading north to the spot where the dead woman turned up.

"I can't comment on the condition of the body that was found," he said. "We have not confirmed that the body ... is that of Brittany Killgore. ... The medical examiner will make that confirmation."

On Monday, search-and-rescue personnel combed open areas in the De Luz area, north of Fallbrook, in hopes of determining what had become of Killgore. It was unclear what led them to that spot.

Nesbit said Perez had been "uncooperative and not completely forthcoming about his knowledge." The lieutenant would not comment on the nature of the missing woman's relationship with the serviceman.

Among the suspicious circumstances in the case was the fact that Killgore's cell phone was found by trolley security guards in the Gaslamp District of downtown San Diego, even though investigators do not believe she had gone there herself on the night she vanished, Nesbit said.

The woman filed for divorce last week, according to court records. Her Camp Pendleton-stationed husband, Cory, reportedly has been serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan but is in the process of being sent home due to his wife's disappearance.

— City News Service