Body Found in Closet; Roommate Arrested

A neighbor has claimed a man killed his roommate because she was "trying to take over his apartment."

A tip-off led Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives to the discovery of a 48-year-old woman's body in an apartment building on the 8700 block of Sepulveda Boulevard Monday.

The unidentified woman, who is believed to have been dead for two days, was found stuffed in a closet. Police subsequently arrested 58-year-old Mario Villalobos.

A neighbor told NBC4 there had been a long-running dispute between the pair, and claimed he had told her he strangled the woman.

"She ended up kicking his dog, trying to take over his apartment and attacked him," the neighbor said, "He said he'd had enough and he grabbed her by the neck. He said he squeezed it and squeezed it and she stopped moving."

"He's not a very good friend, he's done a lot of very bad things to me. But nobody deserves that... she's very innocent," the neighbor added.

"The suspect and witnesses in this case, including the citizen who initially called the front desk, are all cooperating with police and providing information," said Lt. Kathleen Burns, commanding officer of the Mission Detective Division. "What is interesting about this incident is that it started with a phone call to the front desk and detectives had to put together the puzzle pieces just to find the body."

The victim and suspect were roommates, but he was in the process of evicting her, Burns said. This caused several arguments.

City News Service contributed to this report

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