After 6 Years, Man Charged with Rapes, Murders of 2 Women Dumped by Freeway
Geovanni Borjas
TORRANCE — On April 24, 2011, 17-year-old Michelle Lozano disappeared. Her body was discovered the next day by a homeless person near Interstate 5 in Boyle Heights. Her nude body had been wrapped in plastic bags and stuffed in a plastic container, and then hidden in the brush.
Later that year, on December 26, 22-year-old Bree’Anna Guzman also disappeared. Her body was discovered a month later near the Glendale Freeway (on the 2 Freeway on ramp near Riverside Drive).
On Thursday, an arrest was finally made in the two murders. 32-year-old Geovanni Borjas was charged with two counts of murder, two counts of rape, and one count of kidnapping. Although the “medical biller” plead not guilty and is being held without bail.
Prosecutors asserted that DNA evidence at both of the crime scenes link Borjas to the murders.
If convicted, Borjas faces either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
NOTE – LAPD Chief Charlie Beck explained that they used a “familial DNA” check in their investigation. DNA at both scenes, compared with existing databases, matched DNA from Borjas’ father already on file.
Police then followed the younger Borjas and, when he spat on the the sidewalk, gathered his DNA from that sample and made a match.
