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20-Year-Old Santa Ana Mother Of 2 Found Strangled In Tijuana

SANTA ANA (CBS) — Two Santa Ana detectives will go to Tijuana Thursday to investigate the strangulation murder of  a Santa Ana mother of two whose body was found in the back of a pickup truck in Tijuana.

Alicia Rosales, who was 20, was found dead in Tuesday, and her former boyfriend Daniel Lozano is jailed in Tijuana, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Authorities told KCAL9's Michele Gile that Lozano has confessed to the murder.

Santa Ana police started working on case Friday when Rosales' aunt called the department from Chicago, Bertagna said.

"The aunt in Chicago said, `I just got a call from my niece on her cellphone and all she said was, `He is going to kill me,"' Bertagna said.

Rosales and the 24-year-old Lozano had recently broken up, the aunt told police, according to Bertagna.

Santa Ana police tracked down where the couple lived in the 2700 block of West Pacific Avenue, Bertagna said. Neighbors there said the two had split up two weeks ago and moved out, Bertagna added.

On Monday, Lozano's mother went to the Santa Ana police station to say her son left the couple's 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son with her about a week ago and she hadn't heard from him since, Bertagna said.

Gile also reported that detectives are trying to piece together some missing elements of the story, most importantly whether the murder occurred on US or Mexican soil and in which jurisdiction Lozano should be charged.

"We're looking for some help from friends or family who know where they worked," Bertagna said, adding the two were Mexican nationals but it was not known whether they were in the U.S. legally.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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