Brittany Killgore, a 22-year-old woman who has been missing since April 13, was planning to leave San Diego and return to her parents’ home in Pennsylvania, according to a report by our media partner North County Times.
Killgore was last seen at 5 p.m. on Friday, and was reported missing the next day after a stranger called her parents from Killgore’s cell phone, said her grandmother Cheryl Coble who resides in Farmington, Mo.
A homeless man in downtown San Diego was attempting to sell the phone to the stranger, Coble said. The stranger then called Michelle Wrest, Killgore’s mother, who then contacted authorities.
On Tuesday, a woman was arrested in relation to Killgore’s disappearance. Jessica Lynn Lopez, 25, has been booked into Las Colinas and has been charged with first degree murder. Lopez was taken into custody after deputies found her at the Ramada Inn in Point Loma, where she was found with self-inflicted wounds, according to Lt. Larry Nesbit.
Authorities found a female body in Riverside County on the same day, but could not say whether the body was Killgore’s.
Active-duty Marine Louis Perez was also arrested earlier in the week on unrelated charges and questioned about Killgore’s disappearance. Detectives say he has been uncooperative.
Killgore was supposed to go out with Perez and his girlfriend on a dinner cruise on Friday, Coble said. The girlfriend decided not to go on the cruise at the last minute and the Wrest family is unsure Killgore made it to the dinner.
Perez is the last person to be seen with Killgore, according to officials.
Click here for a timeline of events in the Brittany Killgore case
On April 10, Killgore had filed for divorce from her husband Cory, who was deployed to Afghanistan. Coble said she was supposed to go to her parent’s house in Pennsylvania on Tuesday – exactly a week after Killgore filed the paperwork.
Authorities found luggage and a laptop case at Killgore’s apartment and her belongings had been shipped to her parent’s house, according to Coble.
"She just wanted to be at her parents' house," Coble said. “[She] just wanted to sit and hold her new niece.”
Darryl Wrest, Killgore’s father, and her husband Cory are both currently in San Diego. Killgore’s grandmother remains in Missouri and her mother, sister and newborn niece are in Pennsylvania, according to North County Times.
Perez will be arraigned today in Vista and Lopez is set to be arraigned tomorrow.
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