Long Beach police on Thursday arrested a suspect in the killing of Terry Limas, a 44-year old West Long Beach resident.

Limas was found dead inside a residence in the 1300 block of Taper Street on March 30, 2020, by another resident who called 911, according to police. Her death was later ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County Examiner-Coroner. The autopsy listed the cause of death as “combined effects of multiple traumatic injuries, smothering, traumatic asphyxia (and) methamphetamine.”

Long Beach say they did not learn about the homicide designation until August and did not announce Limas’ death as the subject of a homicide investigation until January 2021.

A public statement about the murder did not get posted on the department’s website until Jan. 7 due to an “unintentional oversight,” the department said. “We apologize for the delay.”

The suspect, Brandon Michael Ritter, was arrested on suspicion of murder at 10:50 p.m. Thursday, according to a jail booking log. Homicide detectives believe Ritter was in an intimate relationship with the victim when he violently assaulted her, resulting in her death, police said.

Ritter’s mother, Jo Ann Ritter, was arrested on suspicion of concealing evidence of the crime, police said. Both were taken into custody at their residence in the 1800 block of Termino Avenue.

Another suspect, 57-year-old Morris Everett, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to the crime. He was taken into custody in the 1300 block of Taper Street, the same block as the residence where Limas body was found, according to police records.

Everett and Jo Ann Ritter are “significant others,” according to police.