Deaths of Teen Girl, Young Woman Found Alongside L.A. Freeways Are Linked, Police Say

The deaths of a teenage girl and a young woman whose bodies were found alongside Los Angeles freeways within a span of nine months in 2011 and 2012 are linked, police said today in appealing for the public's help to solve the crimes.

"We were unable to conclusively come up with that information until just very recently, where we were able to obtain forensic evidence that linked the two cases," Los Angeles police Capt. William Hayes, commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division, said outside LAPD headquarters. "At this point in time, we are convinced that the same individual or individuals is responsible for both the abductions of Michelle Lozano and Bree'Anna Guzman and their subsequent murders."

Two $50,000 rewards have been offered by the Los Angeles City Council for information in the killings of Guzman, 22, and Lozano, 17.

Guzman's body was found near the Riverside Drive on-ramp to the Glendale (2) Freeway in Silver Lake on Jan. 26, 2012. She had last been seen Dec. 26, 2011, at a Rite-Aid in Lincoln Heights, according to the LAPD.

The body of Lozano was found in a plastic storage container in Boyle Heights near the Cesar Chavez Avenue off-ramp of the Golden State (5) Freeway on April 25, 2011. She was last seen a day earlier near Lincoln High School in the Lincoln Heights area.

The City Council first approved $50,000 rewards in each case in February of 2012. At that time, detectives suspected that the cases were connected, but did not have information backing up their suspicions, Hayes said.

Hayes declined to elaborate on the nature of the forensic evidence linking the cases. He said the victims did not know one another. Police had no descriptions available of the suspect or suspects, or of any vehicle involved in the case, Hayes said.

Los Angeles Councilman Gil Cedillo said the girl's families deserve justice in the case.

"If you know anything of these crimes please join us in our efforts to bring justice and closure to these families," Cedillo said.

Darlene Guzman Duran, the mother of Bree'Anna Guzman, said she cannot believe nobody has come forward with information.

"I know somebody knows something and please come forward and help us," Duran said.

Anyone with information on the crimes was urged to call detectives Frank Carrillo or Jay King, (213) 486-6890, or (877) LAPD-247.

—City News Service