The San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed the identity of the body discovered in Riverside County to be that of missing North County military wife Brittany Dawn Killgore.
Killgore, 22, was last seen about 5 p.m. Friday in the Fallbrook area, where she shared a home with her estranged Camp Pendleton-based Marine husband, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Killgore's husband was deployed in Afghanistan when she went missing and is not suspected in the disappearance, authorities said.
An apparently suicidal woman is being held by authorities on suspicion of murder in the case.
On Tuesday, Killgore's body was discovered in Riverside County several hours after Jessica Lynn Lopez, 25, was taken into custody on suspicion of murder in the case. The remains were found about 2:30 p.m. off Borel and Warren roads, roughly a mile north of Lake Skinner, authorities said.
Investigators had gone to the remote and rural spot where the dead woman was found based on leads stemming from the arrest of Lopez, according to authorities.
Lopez, who turned 25 the day Killgore disappeared, is the second person named by authorities in connection with the case.
A neighbor spoke with 10News on about the possible link between Killgore and Lopez. The neighbor, who did not want to be identified, said Lopez was trying to leave town with a friend.
"They came to give me a hug and [say] goodbye when they were leaving," the neighbor said. "They were staying at a hotel before they would fly out."
10News learned investigators are looking into whether the women were possibly involved in some unusual behavior. The neighbor said it was no secret that the two women were involved in a dangerous sex industry.
"They were into the… sex slave things," said the neighbor. "I tried not to judge… but that's what they were into."
On Sunday, a 45-year-old Marine named Louis Ray Perez was jailed on suspicion of possessing an AR-15 military assault rifle stolen from Camp Pendleton, where he is based. Authorities said Perez was with Killgore just before she disappeared and was being investigated in connection with the disappearance.
Perez was scheduled to be arraigned on the weapon charge at the Vista courthouse Wednesday afternoon. As of early Wednesday, authorities had not cleared Perez of possible involvement in the Killgore case, despite the Lopez arrest.
His bail was set at $500,000.
On announcing Lopez' arrest, sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser told reporters she had been admitted to UCSD Medical Center under guard after an apparent suicide attempt.
Lopez was taken into custody at a motel on Rosecrans Street in the Midway District of San Diego. She was released from the hospital and booked into the Las Colinas Detention Facility in Santee shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday, according to jail records.
She is being held without bail and was slated to make her first court appearance in the case Thursday.
Court records showed Killgore filed for divorce last week. Her husband, Cory, was in the process of being sent home from Afghanistan due to his wife's disappearance. It was unclear when he was likely to arrive back in San Diego County.
