The California teacher whose body was found inside the trunk of a burned car has been identified as a 27-year-old UCLA graduate whose former boyfriend was charged with murder.
Firefighters discovered Veronica Aguilar’s body Wednesday after they were called to a fire at the home of Matthew Switalski, 37, in Lancaster’s Quartz Hill neighborhood, KTLA reported.
Neighbors in the Los Angeles suburb told the outlet that the two were believed to have dated at some point.
Switalski, who was named a “person of interest” after the gruesome discovery was made in his garage, was located in Kern County on Thursday night and arrested on a murder charge, according to the outlet.
Neighbors reported hearing a woman screaming and what sounded like an explosion just before the fire broke out on 38th Street West.
“Around 2 a.m., I heard a bloodcurdling scream,” a neighbor who did not want to be identified told KTLA. “I had just opened the window after finishing some work and when I went to check, I didn’t hear it anymore.”
Aguilar’s family said she was a UCLA graduate and elementary school teacher.
A woman whose body was found inside the trunk of a burned car was identified as Verónica Aguilar, 27, whose former boyfriend was charged with murder. TikTok / Juan Aguilar Veronica Aguilar TikTok / Juan Aguilar Aguilar was a UCLA graduate and school teacher. TikTok/Juan Aguilar
A man who identified himself as her uncle said she taught in Palmdale.
“Things will never be the same again. We miss her very much,” his brother Juan Aguilar told Fox LA. “She had the best spirit, she always had a smile. “My family is heartbroken.”
Neighbors told KTLA that Switalski was previously employed by Northrop Grumman and reportedly rented several rooms in his home to company workers.
The discovery was made by firefighters who put out the house fire in Quartz Hill, California. The burned car where the teacher’s body was found inside the trunk.
He was being held on $10 million bail, according to court records cited by Fox LA, which reported that he was arrested in May on an unspecified felony charge.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.
Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn