Left: Joselina Lopez. Right: Vehicle into which Lopez allegedly stuffed lover’s remains (WDHN/YouTube)
An Alabama woman allegedly shot her lover to death before using a chain saw to rip apart his body and dispose of the remains in 10 to 15 trash bags.
Cops say 26-year-old Joselina Elizabeth Lopez loaded up the trash bags containing Benito Morales Guzman’s body into the back and trunk of her Toyota Corolla.
She also put in the car electric chain saws she bought from Lowe’s — one of which still had human flesh on the blades — as well as cleaning supplies, a diaper bag and a box of baby formula that still had blood on it, a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said. She planned to flee the country with her child and travel to Mexico or Guatemala where she has family, cops suggested. Lopez reportedly had her passport and the child’s birth certificate in hand.
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But her alleged plan was foiled when Guzman’s boss reported the 41-year-old missing to the Geneva County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 27. Deputies did a welfare check at Guzman’s home in the Fadette area where they came upon a “strong odor of decomposition believed emanating” from the Corolla parked outside, cops say. They also recovered the trash bags in the car, along with a .22-caliber revolver with five of the six cartridges fired, according to the affidavit. An autopsy discovered two bullets in Guzman’s body.
Guzman was last seen around 8 p.m. Aug. 24. Cops believe the child was at the home at the time of the murder. Detectives allegedly discovered Lopez recently bought four electric chain saws from Lowe’s and returned one.
Deputies arrested Lopez for murder and took her to the Geneva County Jail where she remains without bond. While in jail, she reportedly said “I should have left earlier” during a phone conversation with a relative.
Lopez faces life in prison if convicted.
According to Dothan ABC affiliate WDHN, Lopez told a judge she killed Guzman in self-defense. She reportedly asked to be freed on bond before her trial but was denied.
Guzman’s ex-wife Jennifer Wilkerson still kept in touch and considered him a friend.
“To hear all of that what she did to him like that — it sickens me to my stomach,” she said. “He didn’t deserve any of that. I mean, she already shot him five times. What else did she plan on doing here?”
Lopez has a court hearing scheduled for Sept. 11.
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