Missing Girl Found in Mexico, Father Arrested for Murder

A little girl who went missing from Los Angeles last month has been found safe in Mexico, and her father is now in custody, suspected of killing her mother before fleeing across the border.

Five-year-old Daleyza Fregoso was located over the weekend after an Amber Alert was issued on May 24, when she and her father, 40-year-old Ruben Fregoso, were last seen leaving their West Adams home together in the early morning hours. The next day, officers responding to a welfare check at the family's home on South Alsace Avenue found her mother, 34-year-old Marisol Garcia Palacios, dead inside. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has identified Garcia Palacios, though her official cause of death remains deferred pending further investigation.

Investigators say they tracked the family's Land Rover Discovery SUV to the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego County. From there, the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide Division, working alongside U.S. Marshals and FBI agents, located both father and daughter in Mexico.

Daleyza is currently in the care of Mexican officials, and U.S. Embassy workers are now working to bring her home. Her father faces extradition to Los Angeles, where the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has charged him with one count of murder and one misdemeanor count of child abuse.