Woman Once Believed Dead Is Arrested in Murder Case

In a strange case of mistaken identity, sheriff’s deputies Tuesday said they made a slight error when reporting the death of a 35-year-old Eastside woman.

Not only isn’t the woman dead, as deputies suggested Monday, but she is now a suspect in the killings.

The bodies of Judith Lopez, 4, and her 8-year-old brother, Victor, were so badly decomposed that when they were found Sunday in a locked South Simmons Avenue house, deputies mistook Victor’s corpse for that of his mother, Martha Israel Lopez, Deputy Gabe Ramirez said.

Victor was assumed missing with his grandmother, Graciela Israel, 65, and the family car, a 1995 white Dodge Neon. The missing car was spotted at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday in Buena Park.

An unidentified informant who had seen a television news report about the incident saw the car and called police, Buena Park Police Lt. Bob Chaney said.

La Palma police pulled the car over on Valley View Street, just outside Buena Park, and arrested occupants Martha Lopez and Israel.

“After her arrest, [Lopez] admitted to the two killings,” Ramirez said. Based on Israel’s statements to police and evidence found at the scene, the older woman later was arrested too. Both women, charged with murder, are being held without bail at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women, Ramirez said.

Authorities would not comment on the motive in the killings or on the circumstances.

Sheriff’s deputies also have not disclosed how they confused the body of an 8-year-old boy with that of a 35-year-old woman, but Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, said it is the kind of mistake that can occur when information is released before badly decomposed bodies are examined.

“The Sheriff’s Department needs to disseminate information quickly,” Carrier said. “They should have referred [the media] to [the coroner’s office].”

As of late Tuesday, the bodies had not yet been examined, and “the cause of death has not been determined,” Carrier said. “All we have is tentative names.” And a lot of unanswered questions.