A 23-year-old Renton man was arrested in King County in connection with the killing of a 21-year-old California woman whose body was found on Valentine’s Day by a passerby in the Olympic National Forest’s Buckhorn Wilderness, south of Blyn, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said.
>>Homicide investigation underway after woman’s body found on US Forest Service land
Officials said the man was taken into custody Wednesday evening in connection with the killing of Dioneth Lopez of San Pablo.
On Friday, deputies were called to a report of an unresponsive woman discovered off of a U.S. Forest Service Road, officials said.
Officials said that detectives determined the woman had died due to injuries from homicidal violence.
Last Saturday, a friend of Lopez reported her missing to the San Pablo Police Department and then investigators compared fingerprints taken from Lopez, who was not identified at the time, to those on file with the California Department of Motor Vehicles and confirmed that she was the victim, officials said.
Officials said investigators dug further into the case and found the man and Lopez were dating and confirmed that he had picked her up from Sea-Tac Airport on the morning of Feb. 10, and drove her to Blyn.
After conducting surveillance, sheriff’s detectives and the FBI questioned the man, who reportedly told them that he drove her to the forest after a fight and struck her in the head with a tequila bottle, officials said.
The 23-year-old was booked Thursday morning into the Clallam County Jail.
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