Brittany Dawn Killgore was supposed to be going out for the evening with a Marine Corps sergeant and his girlfriend. But at some point, the night of April 13 took a frightening turn.
"She sent a text to a female friend of hers indicating that she was in distress," San Diego Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza said Thursday in court. "She was missing from that point on."
Killgore, 22, the estranged wife of another Marine, was later found dead near a lake in Riverside County. Staff Sgt. Louis Ray Perez and Jessica Lynn Lopez were arrested and charged with murder.
The first details about the investigation came out at Perez's arraignment in Vista, Calif., where the prosecutor revealed not only the text message, but also that police found Killgore's blood in Perez's car as well as a weapon.
Authorities have not revealed a possible motive. But Perez's attorney told the judge that Lopez, who had been found with self-inflicted cuts in a motel room, left a suicide note admitting to Killgore's murder.
Both Lopez, 25, and Perez, 45, have pleaded not guilty.
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