Guadalupe Man Arrested at Mexico Border for Murder

By the edhat staff

A 44-year-old Santa Barbara County man was arrested at the Mexico border this weekend and charged with murdering his wife.

German Armando Luna Salazar was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents around 10:45 a.m. Saturday at the San Ysidro Point of Entry and booked into the San Diego jail on an outstanding homicide warrant.

Luna Salazar is accused of strangling his wife, 32-year-old Leyva Elizabeth Oregel Garcia of Guadalupe, and leaving her body inside a parked vehicle in San Ysidro. Her body was found after midnight on July 4.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office determined her death was homicide by strangulation and that she suffered blunt force trauma to her upper body.

Luna Salazar was seen walking away from the area where his wife’s body was found, according to San Diego police Lt. Steve Shebloski.

The initial investigation into Oregel’s disappearance was conducted by the Guadalupe Police Department as she was last seen leaving Guadalupe with Luna Salazar around 4:00 p.m. on July 1.

According to a flyer her family distributed to local media, Luna Salazar drove a black Jeep Cherokee and had been known to previously make threats towards her. They have two daughters together.