Lidia Castillo, 45

Lidia Castillo, a 45-year-old Latina, was found dead from strangulation Sunday, June 23, 2013 in  the 2500 block of East Avenue I in Lancaster, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records. 

Castillo, a mother of four, had been dead for at least three days when a concerned family member went to her home and discovered her body, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Det. Ray Lugo. The house had been ransacked and many items were missing, including her television and her 2007 red Chevy Impala with Nevada license plates. 

Anthony Dion, also known as Dion Anthony, a 27-year-old black man from Colorado, was extradited to Los Angeles on Oct. 5, 2015, to stand trial for her death. His arraignment, originally scheduled for Oct. 8, was continued to Nov. 13 at the request of his attorney,  Los Angeles County district attorney's office spokesman Ricardo Santiago said.

Castillo's missing car helped investigators track down Dion as a suspect, Lugo said. Two days after Castillo's body was found, a man driving her car was arrested after a police pursuit in Englewood, Colo., a suburb outside of Denver. Englewood authorities discovered that the car was stolen and contacted the sheriff’s homicide bureau, Lugo said. 

The man allegedly told investigators he had borrowed the car from Dion, Lugo said. Investigators learned that while Dion lived in the Denver area, he had extended family in Lancaster and had been dating Castillo during his visits. 

Investigators got a warrant for Dion's arrest in November 2013, but that same month Dion was arrested in Denver on suspicion of an unrelated robbery, Lugo said. After his conviction on the Colorado robbery charge, Dion was extradited to Los Angeles on a Los Angeles County district attorney's office warrant charging him with murder in the commission of a robbery.

Castillo had separated from her husband and moved from Las Vegas to Lancaster to be near her family shortly before her death, said her brother Daniel Lozano. Her youngest child, a 15-year-old, was visiting his father the weekend she died; her other children were adults and lived away from home. None of her family knew Dion, Lozano said. 

“She was a loving person who would do anything for you. If somebody needed something, she was always there for them,” Lozano said. 

Castillo loved children, and one of her greatest joys was spending time with her toddler granddaughter, Lozano said. 

"She was always going to Vegas to visit her, or bringing her here," he said. "It's been rough, especially for my mom and her poor kids. She was really close to her kids."

Dion's arrest and pending trial have provided the family with some relief,  Lozano said.

"We can't bring her back, but we can at least get some justice," he said. "That's what we're looking for. We're looking for closure."

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.