Man sentenced to 25 years to life for strangling girlfriend

A man was sentenced Dec. 1 to 25 years to life in state prison for strangling his girlfriend and leaving her body in their Compton apartment, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. 

On Nov. 9, a jury found Juan Bravo Lopez, a 53-year-old Latino, guilty of first-degree murder for killing Martha Higareda, 29. 

Lopez and Higareda had been in a relationship for at least seven years and raised three children together, one of whom was Higareda’s from another relationship, prosecutors said. 

On May, 9, 2003, the couple got into an argument and Lopez later strangled Higareda. The next day, Lopez fled to Mexico with the children. Four days later, an apartment manager found Higareda’s body under a bunk bed in the residence. 

Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives located and returned Higareda’s oldest child to the U.S. shortly after the killing. The other children returned to the country about a year later, according to the district attorney’s office. 

In 2010, U.S. law enforcement located Lopez in San Vincente, Baja Mexico, and arrested him in June 2014. He was extradited to Los Angeles, where he awaited trial. 

Contact the Homicide Report. Follow @jeromercampbell and @latimeshomicide on Twitter.