Politics & Government

PROSECUTOR: Killgore's Alleged Killer Had Blood, Weapon in Car

Killgore had sent a distressed text to a friend before she died, according to police.

 

Updated 1:14 p.m. Thursday

A veteran Camp Pendleton Marine accused of killing a 22-year-old military wife had the victim's blood and a murder weapon in his car, a prosecutor told a judge today during an arraignment hearing.

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Staff Sgt. Louis Ray Perez, 45, pleaded not guilty today to murdering Brittany Killgore, . The sergeant was held in lieu of $3 million bail.

Perez -- a 16-year Marine -- and was described by prosecutors at the time as a "person of interest" in Killgore's death.

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Today, Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza told Vista Superior Court Judge Kimberlee Lagotta that , but the other woman backed out.

Later that night, Killgore sent a text message to a friend saying she was in distress and needed help, Espinoza said.

Investigators subsequently contacted Perez, who said he dropped off Killgore downtown, when he in fact was in Fallbrook, according to the prosecutor.

Police searched Perez's vehicle and found the victim's blood and a weapon, Espinoza told the judge. .

. .

Perez's attorney, Jeff Reichert, told the judge that a note found when a suicidal Lopez was arrested in a Point Loma motel room exonerates his client. According to Reichert, the note written by Lopez indicates she killed Killgore and that Perez had nothing to do with the homicide.

But Lagotta, who agreed to keep the note under seal, said Perez represented a "serious danger" to the community and was deserving of high bail.

Killgore had recently filed for divorce from her Marine husband and had plans to move back to Pennsylvania, where her parents lived.

Perez and Lopez, who will be back in court May 10 for a readiness conference and May 30 for a preliminary hearing, both face 25 years to life in prison if convicted.


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