A 32-year-old man with an extensive criminal history of domestic violence was arrested Thursday on suspicion of killing a woman in Garden Grove.
Rafael Arechiga was arrested following a traffic stop about 12:40 a.m. Thursday at Brookhurst Street and Chapman Avenue, Garden Grove Police Department Sgt. Nick Jensen said. He was accused of killing a 37-year-old Garden Grove woman whose name was not immediately released.
Santa Ana police working a missing person case contacted Garden Grove officers about 8 p.m. Wednesday to request a welfare check after the woman failed to show up for work, Jensen said.
Minutes later, Garden Grove police dispatchers received a call from the same apartment complex officers were preparing to check, Jensen said. A caller, who had been asked by the woman’s family to check on her, found her body in an apartment in the 10400 block of Lampson Avenue, according to Jensen.
The woman had a restraining order against Arechiga, and the two had been in a relationship, Jensen said.
Arechiga has an extensive criminal history of domestic violence, according to court records. Despite that the victim — Gabriela M. Molina Cervantes — in July requested dismissal of the restraining order against him, according to court records.
“I would like to remove the restraining order, to give another opportunity to my husband,” she wrote. “I don’t want him being arrested no more. I’m tired of living in fear that he gets arrested. I love him and I just want peace in my life.”
Arechiga pleaded guilty Sept. 26, 2024, to domestic battery causing injury with a prior conviction for violence, disobeying a domestic relations court order and petty theft, all misdemeanors, as well as a felony count of contempt of a domestic violence court order with a prior. Arechiga admitted in court papers attacking his spouse “by punching her with my fist” and violating a prior protective order and taking her purse.
According to a probation violation request, the victim sustained “visible injuries including bruising contusion along her right temple and right cheek, a bruise forming on her right triceps, an abrasion on her right elbow, and a circular scrape along her hairline and temple” and required hospital care.