Police say a 44-year-old Long Beach man is in custody after he killed his girlfriend, then drove to Mexico, where he turned himself in.
Long Beach police said Erik Alcantar was in a domestic dispute with his girlfriend, 45-year-old Aracely Romero, of Long Beach, on Saturday while they were both inside a vehicle traveling in Long Beach.
During the dispute, he killed her, police allege.
Police said Alcantar then drove to Tijuana, Mexico, where he turned himself in to Mexican authorities with Romero’s body still in the vehicle. As of Friday, he remained in custody in Mexico.
Romero and Alcantar had five children ranging from age 16 to 26, according to a GoFundMe started by her family.
“In one moment, [the children] lost both of their parents,” they wrote on the fundraiser.
They described Romero as “the light of our family.”
Romero “had the purest heart, always finding ways to make people smile, always putting others before herself,” her family wrote. “To know her was to feel warmth, love, and safety.”
As of midday Friday, the GoFundMe had raised more than $4,600 towards its $22,000 goal.
Detectives have presented the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which will consider what charges to file against Alcantar.