A Pasadena man was charged Tuesday with the dismemberment murder of a woman, believed to be his ex-girlfriend, whose remains were found last week in the Cypress Park area of Los Angeles.
Valentino Gutierrez, 56, was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in a Pasadena courtroom on one count each of murder and arson of property, along with an allegation that he used an accelerant, according to Deputy District Attorney Rachel Bowers.
The killing is believed to have occurred on or about Jan. 31 at a shuttered Pasadena restaurant. The defendant allegedly dismembered the victim, whose name has not been released, and carried her body parts in a suitcase onto a Metro Gold Line train.
Los Angeles police officers responded to a report of a body on fire at 1:53 a.m. last Thursday at 2055 N. Figueroa St., near a Home Depot. Firefighters found the human remains after the blaze was put out, according to the prosecutor.
Surveillance video from Metro led investigators to Gutierrez, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
He was arrested last Friday by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division and could face up to life in prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.