A Compton man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murdering his wife in the family’s home.
Luis Ernesto Villanueva, 39, is charged in Friday’s death of his wife, Grecia Veronica Ayala.
Villanueva allegedly revealed his wife’s body in a comforter after telling her family — who lived in a house at the front of the property — to go to the back house the couple shared in the 12800 block of South Stoneacre Avenue Friday, according to Deputy District Attorney Abigail Baron.
The 30-year-old woman was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene “found marks on her neck which resembled ligature marks that correspond to a possible strangulation,” Deputy Grace Medrano said Friday.
A determination of the cause of the woman’s death has been deferred, according to the coroner’s office’s website.
Villanueva was arrested by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies early Friday morning and has remained behind bars since then.
He was ordered to be held in lieu of $2 million bail while awaiting his next court appearance July 12.
If convicted as charged, he could face up to 25 years to life in state prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
–City News Service
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