A 22-year-old man was charged Thursday with murdering his 64-year-old roommate, whose body was found in a trash bin near the El Monte mobile home park where they lived.
David Stanley Lemus-Orellana was ordered jailed in lieu of $2 million bail while awaiting arraignment March 3 at the Pomona courthouse.
Florinda Velasquez-Hernandez’s body was discovered about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 3300 block of Maxson Road by El Monte police officers who had been sent there on a “suspicious circumstances” call from a person who reported that a man was seen dragging a female body toward the trash container, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez.
Security video showed a man pushing a plastic bin toward the dumpster, then returning minutes later without the plastic bin. He was arrested shortly after 2 that afternoon.
Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Tang alleged that Lemus-Orellana strangled the victim.
Sheriff’s investigators have not commented on a motive.
Family members told CBS2 that the victim rented a room in a mobile home where at least two men also lived. Her family said she had immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador three years ago.
If convicted as charged, Lemus-Orellana would face a maximum of 25 years to life in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
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