A Daughter Mourned : CHP Officer, During Traffic Stop, Opened Trunk but Didn’t See Body Inside

A CHP officer making a routine traffic stop confiscated a knife from the driver, tossed it in the trunk of the man’s car but did not open the lid far enough to discover the body of the man’s ex-girlfriend whom he allegedly had killed earlier in the day, police said Monday.

The incident came to light as police continued the investigation into the death of Diana Garcia Luna, a 22-year-old mother of two whose body was found Thursday after she had been missing for two weeks. On Monday, hundreds of mourners attended Luna’s funeral at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Santa Ana.

The California Highway Patrol said in a statement explaining the actions of the unidentified officer that he “had no authorization, suspicion or reason to search the trunk” of the car driven by Julian Albert Villa, 25, who is being held in a state prison on a parole violation but is the prime suspect in Luna’s slaying.

When Villa was arrested Aug. 19, Police Lt. Edward Tunstall said, authorities found a traffic citation for a smoky exhaust written by a CHP officer at 7:18 a.m. Aug. 11--the day Luna was last seen alive after giving a co-worker a ride from a Garden Grove nightclub to her Orange apartment about 3 a.m.

According to the CHP, an officer saw a red Dodge convertible spewing smoke and displaying an expired registration tag on the Santa Ana Freeway at Brookhurst Street, just hours after police believe Luna was strangled.

After pulling the vehicle over, the officer asked whether Villa had any weapons in the car. Villa said he had a knife under the seat and handed it to the officer, according to the CHP’s account. The officer took the knife and Villa handed over the vehicle’s trunk key in compliance with the officer’s request, the CHP said.

“The officer then opened the trunk only enough to deposit the knife,” the CHP said.

Villa was not in violation of any law for having a knife in the car, and he was issued a citation and released, the CHP said. It was unclear why the officer decided to put the knife in the trunk; the CHP was not providing information beyond its statement.

“There was no way of knowing a body was in the car” at the time, the CHP said.

Villa continued to the home of an acquaintance in Hawaiian Gardens, where the body was put into another car, Tunstall said. Villa drove the friend’s car to a remote area of Riverside County and left the body in thick brush, about 20 yards from a dirt road.

Police are looking into the actions of Villa’s acquaintances, Tunstall said. Villa was detained Aug. 19 after an anonymous tip implicated him in Luna’s disappearance.

He was held on an unspecified parole violation--he had been released from prison in June after serving time for a 1991 robbery in Los Angeles County. But police say Villa, who on Friday led them to Luna’s body in a brushy area outside Hemet, will be charged in his ex-girlfriend’s slaying.

A few weeks before her death, Luna had obtained a restraining order against Villa for allegedly beating and threatening to kill her.

At her funeral Monday, Luna’s friends described her as a “kindhearted soul” who always had a bright smile and something nice to say.

“She was an angel,” said Linda Fuentes, Luna’s former sister-in-law. “All she had to do was talk to you and she could touch your heart.”

Luna, who worked as a receptionist and computer programmer for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Santa Ana, also worked nights part time as a waitress at Peppers Night Club in Garden Grove. Relatives are caring for her children, Celeste, 6, and Jesse, 1 1/2, who is Villa’s son.

During the service Monday, Luna’s mother tightly held a photograph of her daughter to her chest. With tears in her eyes, she prayed as she accompanied her daughter’s casket from the church.

Brian Rodriguez, 20, of Santa Ana, who met Luna at Victory Outreach, a Christian church, eulogized her as having a knack for cheering people up.

“I remember that I almost left the church,” Rodriguez said. “But she said, ‘There’s nothing so bad to leave God.’ She always had a big smile on her face and she talked me out of it.”

Cynthia Duran, 26, who was Luna’s roommate of six months, said she had lost her best friend. Duran also had baptized Luna’s daughter, Celeste.

“She left behind two beautiful children,” Duran said. “They will always know what a beautiful person she was and even though she is gone, she will always be a part of me.”