Recovered Body Confirmed as Brittany Killgore

Updated at 10:19 p.m. Wednesday.

A woman's body found in Riverside County was positively identified today as that of a 22-year-old Fallbrook woman who had been presumed murdered following her disappearance last week, days before she was to move to the East Coast to live with her parents.

The remains of Brittany Killgore were discovered Tuesday afternoon near Temecula, about a mile north of Lake Skinner, according to homicide detectives and the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. Authorities declined to disclose whether the cause of Killgore's death had been determined.

Killgore, whose estranged husband was serving military duty in Afghanistan, was reported missing Saturday evening. She had vanished Friday night after meeting 45-year-old Louis Ray Perez, a Camp Pendleton-based Marine who was subsequently arrested on unrelated charges, according to investigators.

Perez pleaded not guilty in a Vista courtroom this afternoon to charges of possession of stolen property and illegal possession of an assault rifle. In addition to facing those accusations, Perez was being "actively investigated" in connection with the Killgore case, sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser told reporters.

Investigators were able to find the remote spot where Killgore's body had been dumped following 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 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.

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

At Perez's arraignment this afternoon, his attorney, Jeff Reichert, asked that his bail be lowered from $500,000 to $30,000, noting that he had not been charged in connection with Killgore's apparent slaying.

Reichert also pointed out that Perez had no criminal history and was a 16-year military veteran.

Superior Court Judge Sim von Kalinowski rejected the request, saying Perez's knowledge that he was under investigation in the Killgore case made him a significant flight risk.

Outside court, prosecutor Patrick Espinoza was asked why Perez hadn't been charged in connection with Killgore's alleged slaying.

"Well, before an important decision like charging someone with the crime of murder is made, police conduct and deputies conduct a thorough investigation," Espinoza said. "That thorough investigation is happening right now. It hasn't been completed yet."

Perez faces up to three years and eight months in prison if convicted on the weapon theft charges.

Killgore filed for divorce last week, according to court records. Marine Corps officials agreed to send her husband, Cory, home from his combat deployment following his wife's unexplained disappearance. He reportedly was due to arrive back in San Diego County sometime this week.

Killgore's grandmother, Cheryl Coble of Farmington, Mo., told a hometown newspaper the victim's mother had notified San Diego law enforcement about her daughter's disappearance after receiving a call from a stranger who found Killgore's cell phone in the downtown Gaslamp District.

On the night of her disappearance, Killgore was supposed to go out with Perez and his girlfriend to a dinner cruise, but it was unclear if the plan came together, Coble told the Daily Journal of Park Hills, Mo. Perez's girlfriend apparently backed out at the last minute, she added.

Killgore's father, Darryl Wreast, and grandfather flew to Southern California this week and handed out photos and information about her, Coble said.

Killgore, a former Missouri resident, had separated from her husband and shipped all her belongings to her parents' home in Pennsylvania, with plans to travel there this week to move back in with them, Coble told the newspaper.

Killgore's family had lived in Rolla, Mo., before relocating to Pennsylvania last fall. Killgore had been looking forward to reuniting with her family on the other side of the county, her grandmother said.

"She just wanted to be at her parents' house and just wanted to sit and hold her new niece," Coble told the Daily Journal.

— City News Service