A former Compton resident who was extradited from Mexico this week to face a murder charge in the death of his girlfriend more than a decade ago entered a not guilty plea Friday.
Juan Bravo Lopez, a 52-year-old Mexican citizen, was brought Wednesday from Mexico to Los Angeles County by members of the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force and turned over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Lopez is charged with killing Martha Higareda, who was found dead in her Compton home in May 2003.
Lopez allegedly fled to Mexico with the victim’s three children, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last year.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives subsequently learned the whereabouts of the victim’s oldest child and traveled there to return the then- 11-year-old to the United States, authorities said.
Last year, sheriff’s detectives determined that Lopez had been incarcerated in and was subsequently living in Mexico and requested help from the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force to locate and apprehend him. He was arrested in June in San Vicente, Baja, Mexico, and subsequently underwent extradition proceedings, according to the FBI.
Lopez remains jailed without bail and is due back in court Dec. 1, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial.
— City News Service