Man accused of killing woman in Santa Ana last year turns himself in at Mexico border

A man accused of killing a woman he was dating in Santa Ana in October, and who fled to Mexico shortly after, turned himself in to authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday, May 26, police said.

Jose Valdez Jimenez, 59, of Rancho Santa Margarita, was suspected of killing Natalia Gamino Jaimes, 52, of Lake Forest, in October, Santa Ana police said Thursday. Jimenez fled to Mexico right after the incident and agreed to meet Santa Ana police detectives at the Mexican border on Wednesday, Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

“Our lead detective on the case has been communicating with him,” Bertagna said. “Apparently, he was feeling some remorse and decided to turn himself in.”

Jimenez was taken into custody and transported to the Santa Ana jail, where he was booked on suspicion of murder.

Police found Jaimes’ body inside a parked car in 600 block of West Russell Street in Santa Ana in the afternoon on Oct. 26. Detectives later learned she had been reported missing from Lake Forest four days earlier.

Jaimes was strangled, a coroner’s officials said.

This post first appeared on ocregister.com

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