Nadia Solis, 41

Nadia Solis, a 41-year-old Latina, was pronounced dead on Saturday, Jan. 5, after she was struck in the head in the 8700 block of Orange Street in Whittier, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigators. 

Deputies went to the home where Solis lived with her long-time boyfriend, Luis Rey JimenezJimenez, after coworkers requested a welfare check because she hadn't come to work for several days, said Lt. Derrick Alfred. 

Worried co-workers had come to the house earlier in the week and talked to a relative who was babysitting, The Times reported. The relative said Solis had left and no one knew where she had gone. 

On Saturday, however, deputies felt like "things weren't adding up" when they questioned JimenezJimenez, 44, and asked to search the house, Alfred said. Then they noticed JimenezJimenez's car in the carport and asked for the keys. 

"It was raining like crazy that night," Alfred said. "He went with them out to the car, they moved a few things around in the back seat and voila, they saw feet, bound in plastic."

JimenezJimenez allegedly told investigators that he and Solis, his partner for more than 15 years, had become estranged and were living in separate rooms in the house, Alfred said. 

"He said on Dec. 30, they got in an argument that escalated and 'he just snapped' — that's what he said. He threw her on the ground and pummeled her, and then he didn't know what to do."

Investigators believe JimenezJimenez used a wrench as his weapon, Alfred said. 

After he realized Solis was dead, JimenezJimenez took some plastic from an item recently shipped to their house "and he wrapped her up in it and concealed her in the back seat of his car with a few packages and boxes and bags," Alfred said. 

"He said he didn't want to throw her away because he loved her, but he didn't know what to do. He knew it was just a matter of time before he would be caught."

Investigators believe the couple's son was in another part of the house during the argument, Alfred said, and neither he nor the babysitting relative knew what happened to his mother. 

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office charged JimenezJimenez with one count of murder with an allegation that he used a wrench as a deadly and dangerous weapon. 

JimenezJimenez pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on Jan. 17 and is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 25 in Room SEJ of the Los Angeles County Superior Court's Norwalk Courthouse. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.