Dennis RomeroLos Angeles police this week again asked for the public's help in identifying a woman whose remains were found at a recycling center in 2010. The right tip could earn $50,000 in reward money.
“Based on how she was disposed, we do believe it was a homicide,” Los Angeles Police Department Det. Brian Putnam told us.
See also: Murders of 2 Young Eastside Women Connected, L.A. Official Says
In the intervening years there have been a number of body-dump cases in urban Los Angeles involving murdered women, but so far there appear to be no connections to this investigation, the detective said.
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Those victims include:
–Erin Lynn Cruz, a 27-year-old from the eastern San Gabriel Valley whose cut-up remains were found Oct. 26, 28 and 31 in two Los Angeles County wastewater treatment plants. She had last been seen in the “late evening hours” of Oct. 23, authorities said.
A sheriff's official told us this week that her case was still under investigation.
-Bree'Anna Guzman, a 22-year-old from Lincoln Heights whose partially clothed body was found next to the Glendale Freeway in January of 2012. She went missing the day after Christmas, 2011. Police last year said they believe her murder is connected to that of …
-Michelle Lozano, a 17-year-old whose body was found in April of 2011. It was in a container that appeared to have been dumped by a moving vehicle next to the 5 freeway in her Boyle Heights neighborhood, police said. She had reportedly been strangled.
It's not clear why detectives believe those last two cases are connected.
Investigators will often hold evidence close to their chests because it might be trial-worthy information only the killer would know.
Rewards of $50,000 in each of those two homicides were offered for information leading to a suspect.
Credit: Guzman, via the LAPD
Putnam said the age of the woman in the 2010 case would suggest different hands took her life. Police believe she's as young as 40 and possibly as old as 80.
“Based on the age, mine's fairly unique,” Putnam said. “I'm definitely not ruling a connection out, but we have no indication that this is tied to them [the Guzman/Loznao murders].”
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The elder woman's body was found Sept. 10, 2010 at a recycling center at 1000 N. Main St., just north of downtown. Cops think the body was probably dumped into a recycling bin that ended up at the center.
Another homicide cop told us the body was “neatly wrapped” in material and that it was badly decomposed which, he said, suggested she had been dead for a long time.
It's not clear how the woman lost her life, but based on the circumstances—the dump, the wrapping—authorities believe she was indeed murdered.
Police think that IDing her could help them find the killer.
If you think you know who she is, it could earn you $50,000. Call detectives at 213-996-1889 or 213-996-1890.
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