A state appellate court has upheld a Vista judge’s decision to deny a bid for a new trial from a woman convicted in the 2012 torture-killing of Brittany Killgore, a 22-year-old military wife whose body was found dumped near Lake Skinner in Riverside County.
Jessica Lynn Lopez, now in her late 30s, was one of three defendants – along with Louis Ray Perez and Dorothy Maraglino – convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, torture, and attempted sexual battery. All three were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Killgore, who had recently filed for divorce from her deployed Marine husband, disappeared on April 13, 2012, after agreeing to go on a dinner cruise with Perez, a Camp Pendleton staff sergeant. Prosecutors said she was instead lured to Perez’s Fallbrook home, where she was restrained, tortured, and killed before her body was abandoned in rural Riverside County.
Authorities alleged the trio engaged in a BDSM lifestyle involving bondage, domination, and master-servant roleplay – a world Killgore had not consented to join. Search warrants and testimony described ropes, whips, spiked gloves, a Taser, and a makeshift “sex dungeon” inside the home on Fallbrook Street in Fallbrook.
According to trial testimony, Killgore sent a text reading “help” to a friend shortly after leaving with Perez. Later, texts sent from her phone claimed she was enjoying a party, but the wording struck her friends as suspicious.
At trial, Lopez’s defense claimed she was a submissive “slave” in the household and that a confession letter she wrote describing the killing was fabricated at Maraglino’s direction. She said Maraglino fed her specific details about the crime.
Although an earlier appeal was denied, Lopez challenged her conviction again under a change in California’s felony murder law, which narrows liability to those who either kill, intend to kill, or act as major participants in the underlying felony.
After an evidentiary hearing, Superior Court Judge Robert Kearney ruled that Lopez still met the legal standard for murder under the revised law. The Fourth District Court of Appeal agreed this week, finding the evidence supported that Lopez was either a major participant or aided and abetted the killing.
The appellate opinion rejected her argument that the confession letter was too implausible to be believed, writing that Lopez’s appeal failed to show the statements were “inherently improbable or physically impossible.” The panel also dismissed her claims that no torture occurred and that she did not participate in the kidnapping, citing medical examiner testimony and details in her own statements indicating she helped restrain Killgore.
Perez and Maraglino remain in prison alongside Lopez. Prosecutors have said Killgore’s murder was the product of a planned and deliberate act rooted in the defendant’s sadomasochistic practices, with the victim targeted and trapped before her death.
_______________________________________________________________________
Sidebar: Case Timeline: The Murder of Brittany Killgore
April 13, 2012 – Brittany Killgore, 22, recently separated from her Marine husband, agrees to go on a dinner cruise with Camp Pendleton Staff Sgt. Louis Ray Perez. Instead, prosecutors say she is taken to his Fallbrook home, where she is restrained and tortured.
April 13, 2012 (evening) – Killgore texts a friend the single word “help” shortly after leaving with Perez. Later texts sent from her phone appear uncharacteristic and raise suspicion among friends.
April 14, 2012 – Friends report Killgore missing. Perez tells them he dropped her at a club and saw her leave with “two guys.”
April 17, 2012 – Killgore’s nude body is found near Lake Skinner in Riverside County.
May 2012 – Perez, his girlfriend Dorothy Maraglino, and their roommate Jessica Lynn Lopez are charged with murder, kidnapping, torture, and attempted sexual battery. Investigators describe finding ropes, whips, spiked gloves, a Taser, and a “sex dungeon” in the home.
2015 – All three defendants are convicted of first-degree murder and related charges. Each is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
2019 – A change in California’s felony murder law opens the door for Lopez to challenge her conviction.
2023 – Judge Robert Kearney denies Lopez’s petition for relief, ruling she was still a major participant or aider and abettor under the new law.
Aug. 2025 – The Fourth District Court of Appeal upholds Kearney’s ruling, rejecting Lopez’s arguments and leaving her conviction and life sentence in place.
