A man convicted of strangling his live-in girlfriend more than 12 years ago and leaving her body in their Compton apartment was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years to life in state prison.
Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before finding Juan Bravo Lopez, 53, guilty Nov. 9 of first-degree murder in the death of 29-year-old Martha Higareda, who was the mother of his two children.
The two had an argument May 9, 2003, and Lopez told the children the next day that their mother had left for Mexico, according to Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez.
Lopez told the children to pack their belongings to get ready to go and meet her, then borrowed a car from a family member and fled the country, the prosecutor said.
Four days later, neighbors complained about the smell in the family’s apartment. An apartment manager found Higareda’s body underneath a bunk bed with a belt around her neck.
Lopez, a Mexican citizen, was extradited 11 years later and brought back to Los Angeles by the FBI’s fugitive task force.
—City News Service