Man charged with murder in Mt. Baldy Road killing

POMONA -- Prosecutors have filed murder charges against a man allegedly involved in the killing last month of a Covina woman whose body was buried alongside Mt. Baldy Road in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Anthony Lawrence Caballero, 24, allegedly served as the driver during the killing of Lorraine Minjarez, 32, whose body was recovered Nov. 7 by Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators, said Deputy District Attorney Bjorn Dodd.

Sheriff's investigators arrested Caballero on suspicion of murder Nov. 17, and he was charged Nov. 19 by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Dodd said Caballero took Minjarez up Mt. Baldy Road along with a group of other people involved in the killing. Minjarez was strangled and her neck was slashed, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.

Dodd and Caballero's attorney, Joe Borges, declined to speak in detail today about the Mt. Baldy Road killing. Dodd declined to identify Caballero's alleged motive, saying he will wait for a preliminary hearing to reveal further information about the case.

"It's too early on in the case," Borges said. "I'm going to do everything I can to represent him. It's just too early on in the case for me to make a comment."

Caballero is the first person to be charged in connection to Minjarez's killing, though authorities have also linked his cousin, Robert Caballero, to the case.

Dodd said he anticipates filing charges against Robert Caballero for Minjarez's killing. Dodd has already filed murder charges against Robert Caballero for a September gang killing in Pomona.

Authorities have also linked Robert Caballero to the killing last month of David Arthur Padilla, 29, whose body was found under a 60 Freeway overpass in Chino.

Another alleged suspect in Padilla's killing, 19-year-old Andrew Angel Valenzuela of Ontario, is currently wanted by Chino police.

Anthony and Robert Caballero both appeared in Pomona Superior Court on Tuesday to be arraigned in their murder cases, but the hearings were postponed to Dec. 22.

Both men remained jailed Tuesday in lieu of at least $1 million bail.