Moises Meraz-Espinoza, a 19-year-old Latino male who was living at home in a small, southeast L.A. County town called Maywood — in the same cluster of cities as scandal-ridden Bell — admitted to murdering his own mother, Miralda Amelia Espinoza, last Friday.

Meraz-Espinosa walked into a Huntington Park police station around 1 p.m. and reported his crime to officers, informing them that they could find the body inside the apartment he allegedly shared with his mother — unit 11 of the pink complex at 5601 Maywood Avenue.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department confirmed to the Los Angeles Times this morning that the body parts had been recovered from the freezer. However…

City News Service reports that the body has yet to be identified, due to the fact that it was sawed into several pieces before making it into the freezer.

Says Coroner's Lieutenant Brian Elias: “The condition of the body precludes making her readily identifiable.” The coroner's report lists her as a Jane Doe for now, and does not include her age.

Meraz-Espinoza is currently being held by the sheriff's department, without bail, for the homicide.

KTLA has the most insight into a possible motive, after speaking with friends and family. Still, it doesn't seem like much of a reason to dismember one's mother:

Family members tell KTLA that Meraz Espinoza had been depressed and had been acting strangely.

A family member who didn't wish to be identified told KTLA that Meraz Espinoza may have been suffering from depression after his girlfriend was hit by a car and killed four months ago.

“I knew he was either going to harm himself or someone else, just not — not her,” says a relative of the Espinozas, who tells KTLA she received a call from her cousin, the murderer, admitting he had cut his mother up with a saw.

“His mother, she was a lovely lady,” adds a neighbor. “And she worked all her life to take care of him.”

Watch the full report below.

 

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