SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - The search for a South Bay woman missing since New Year's Eve may have reached an end.
The body believed to be that of Alejandra Guiterrez, 27, who lived in San Ysidro was found 120 miles away buried behind a home in Fontana. Investigators said the man who lives at the house admitted he killed her.
Cadaver dogs found a body buried in the backyard of the San Bernardino County home late Thursday evening.
Police initially identified her as Alejandra Carrion Gutierrez after her boyfriend, Cesar Rosales, confessed to killing her. However, officers later said they're still waiting for the medical examiner to produce a positive identification.
Family members say Gutierrez was last seen driving to Fontana on New Year's Eve to see Rosales, but he told them she never arrived. Two days later she was reported missing.
Friends and family spent days posting the picture of the mother of two on social media asking for leads.
Sunday, January 10, officers with the Fontana Police Department located Gutierrez's car.
The following day the family celebrated her daughter's fourth birthday, something they say Gutierrez would never miss, trying their best to distract her from the ongoing search.
Meanwhile police continued investigating Rosales. They say he eventually admitted killing Gutierrez and burying her body in his backyard.
Word quickly spread to her family in Mexico and many family members traveled across the border to meet with authorities.
Gutierrez’s cousin, Elvia, posted a message in Spanish on Facebook saying: “they will get justice and we're going to miss you. It's incredible to think we're no longer will get to see you....friends be careful, there are bad people in the world.”
Rosales was taken to a Los Angeles-area jail and will now wait for arraignment.
Police have not released any information about a motive.