Prosecutors say the victim’s headless body was found during an Aug. 25 welfare check at the suspect’s Anaheim apartment.
ANAHEIM, CA — A 23-year-old woman has been charged with murder after prosecutors say she killed and decapitated her 55-year-old boyfriend in an Anaheim apartment, then fled to Mexico before being captured and returned to Orange County. The victim was found during a welfare check around 2 p.m. on Aug. 25 on East La Palma Avenue, authorities said.
Officials identified the suspect as Alyssa Marie Lira of Anaheim and the victim as Enrique Gonzalez-Carbajal of Santa Ana. Prosecutors said Lira and Gonzalez-Carbajal had been dating for about two months at the time of the killing. After months on the run, Lira was taken into custody in Mexico and turned over to U.S. authorities last week. She is being held without bail in the Orange County Jail and is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 13. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life in state prison.
Police said officers were dispatched to the 1300 block of East La Palma Avenue for a welfare check on Aug. 25 and found the victim’s body and severed head inside the residence. Anaheim homicide detectives quickly identified Lira as the suspect and learned she had crossed the border shortly after the killing. “Nothing — not time, not distance, nor foreign borders — will thwart our pursuit of justice,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement praising the investigation. Authorities said Lira was located and arrested in Mexico last Thursday and handed to U.S. investigators the following day at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
According to prosecutors, Lira faces one count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon. Investigators have not publicly disclosed a motive and have not detailed the type of weapon used. Records identify Gonzalez-Carbajal as 55 and from Santa Ana. Authorities said the pair had known each other for a relatively short period and were in a dating relationship at the time of the attack. Broadcast reports described Lira as working as an exotic dancer in Orange County during that period. Officials emphasized that the killing remains classified as a domestic violence case and that additional forensic testing is underway.
The discovery of a decapitated body in a residential Anaheim complex drew a large response on Aug. 25, with detectives canvassing the area for surveillance footage and witnesses. Neighbors told officers they had seen police visiting the building for the welfare check that afternoon. The case triggered a multi-agency hunt after detectives determined the suspect had fled the country. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office said its Organized Crime Unit worked with Anaheim police, the FBI and Mexican authorities to secure Lira’s arrest and transfer to California. Officials credited cross-border coordination and information-sharing for the relatively swift capture, five months after the killing.
Prosecutors said Lira was booked into the Anaheim Police Department Detention Facility on suspicion of murder after her return to the United States and later moved to the Orange County Jail. Court records show the murder charge was filed this week, with the enhancement alleging personal use of a weapon during the killing. An arraignment is set for Feb. 13 at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. Prosecutors said Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney of the homicide unit will handle the case. No plea has been entered. The Orange County Coroner’s Office completed the identification of Gonzalez-Carbajal, and autopsy findings beyond decapitation have not been released.
The apartment where the body was found sits along a busy stretch of East La Palma Avenue, a corridor of older multiunit buildings and small businesses. On Thursday, residents described a lingering police presence in the days after the killing and said maintenance crews replaced door hardware at the unit weeks later. “It shook everyone here,” said Miguel Ramirez, who lives nearby. “We saw officers going in and out for hours that day.” A woman who works at a shop down the block said customers asked about the case for weeks. “People were scared and wanted answers,” she said.
As of Thursday evening, authorities said the investigation remains active, with detectives reviewing digital evidence and laboratory results and seeking any additional witnesses who had contact with the couple before Aug. 25. Lira remains held without bail pending her Feb. 13 arraignment in Santa Ana. Prosecutors said more information could be released in court filings ahead of that hearing.
Author note: Last updated January 29, 2026.