Marine Pleads Not Guilty on Weapons Charges

While authorities sought to determine if a woman's body found in Riverside County is that of a 22-year-old North County military wife presumed slain in the aftermath of her disappearance last week, a Marine considered a person of interest in the case pleaded not guilty today to unrelated weapons charges.

Brittany Killgore of Fallbrook was reported missing Saturday, a day after the last known sighting of the young woman, whose husband was deployed overseas. She vanished after meeting up with 45-year-old Louis Ray Perez, a Camp Pendleton-based Marine who was subsequently arrested on weapon-theft charges, according to investigators.

Related:

On Tuesday afternoon, the remains of an unidentified woman were discovered near Temecula, about a mile north of Lake Skinner, sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser said. The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office was working to determine if the body was that of Killgore, the captain said.

Investigators had gone to the remote spot where the dead woman was found based on leads stemming from the arrest of a second suspect in the case, according to Fraser.

Jessica Lynn Lopez, 25, was taken into custody late Tuesday morning at a Point Loma motel on suspicion of murder, according to Fraser, who declined to disclose her alleged role in the presumed slaying.

After being treated at a hospital for self-inflicted cuts she had suffered in an apparent suicide attempt, Lopez was booked into Las Colinas women's jail in Santee late Tuesday night.

Perez was jailed Sunday after detectives questioned him about Killgore's whereabouts. Though Perez was booked only on suspicion of possessing a stolen AR-15 military assault rifle, he was "being actively investigated for this disappearance," Fraser said.

Perez appeared in court in Vista this afternoon and pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of stolen property and possession of an assault weapon. His attorney, Jeff Reichert, asked that Perez's bail be lowered from $500,000 to $30,000, saying his client had not been charged in connection with Killgore's disappearance.

But Superior Court Judge Sim von Kalinowski rejected the request, saying Perez's knowledge that he is a person of interest in the Killgore investigation made him an increased flight risk. The judge ordered that Perez remain jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Perez is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on May 17. He faces up to three years and eight months behind bars if convicted.

Lopez, who was being held without bail, was slated to make her first court appearance in the case Thursday.

Killgore filed for divorce last week, according to court records. Marine Corps officials agreed to send her husband, Cory, home from a deployment to Afghanistan following his wife's disappearance. It was unclear when he was likely to arrive back in San Diego County.

— City News Service