Three roommates with a “sex dungeon” at their home may have murdered a US Marine’s wife as they tried to satisfy their fetishes, investigators said in newly unsealed search warrants.
Detectives found “bondage-type sex apparatuses, toys and tools” at the home of the man and two women who have been charged with murder in the death of 22-year-old Brittany Killgore, whose body was found near a California lake. The warrants were unsealed on Wednesday at the media’s request.
Investigators believe all three suspects were with Killgore at their home north of San Diego shortly after the victim sent a text message to a friend saying “Help.”
Killgore was last seen on April 13, three days after filing for divorce from Lance Corporal Cory Killgore, who was serving in Afghanistan.
The documents say her body was found with neck injuries consistent with strangulation, and marks on her wrist and leg that suggested someone tried to use a saw or other tool to dismember her.
A San Diego County sheriff’s detective said in one affidavit that the trio may have targeted Killgore for their “unusual sexual fetishes.” Louis Ray Perez and Dorothy Maraglino told authorities they were involved in “master, servant and slave role playing.”
The third suspect, Jessica Lopez, said she strangled the victim, fearing the victim would upend the kinky sex ring by seducing her “master,” according to the warrants. Lopez wrote in a seven-page letter that she believed Killgore was trying to come between her, Perez and Maraglino. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Lopez, who calls Perez her “master,” shoulders full blame for the killing, saying she acted after the victim told her that she had a “whole night planned” with Perez.
The documents give no indication that Killgore knew about the sex ring and prosecutors call her an innocent victim. Detectives said she accepted Perez’s invitation to a San Diego dinner cruise after Perez helped her move that afternoon. The warrants do not say how Killgore met the suspects.
Sloan Ostbye, Lopez’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a phone message on Wednesday. She joined the San Diego County district attorney’s office in an appeal to keep the documents sealed, calling much of her client’s letter “false or at least misleading and possibly delusional.”
All three defendants are being held on US$3 million bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 21.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number