A 28-year-old man suspected in the beating death of his 21-year-old girlfriend, whose body was found next to a cemetery and freeway in East Los Angeles, was taken into custody in Mexico and has been extradited to Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday.
Antonio Medina, 28, was sought in the death of Kassandra Ochoa, whose body was found about 1 a.m. Nov. 21 in the 400 block of South Sydney Drive, between the Long Beach (710) Freeway and New Calvary Cemetery, according to the sheriff’s department.
U.S. Marshals and Mexican authorities took Medina into custody on Wednesday in the western Mexico state of Nayarit, Deputy Sara Rodriguez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said.
Medina was located as a result of a tip received after media reports of the killing, Rodriguez said.
He was taken back to California and booked at the sheriff’s San Dimas Station on suspicion of murder. He was also the subject of a no-bail warrant for a probation violation, Rodriguez said.
“Medina … was seen fleeing the scene after he was heard arguing with the victim, according to witness accounts,” a previous sheriff’s statement said.
Medina was being held without bail
at the Inmate Reception Center in downtown Los Angeles and is due in court on Friday, according to sheriff’s online inmate records.
— Wire reports