Veronica Aguilar was found dead and burned in a vehicle trunk at this home owned by suspect Matthew Switalski in Quartz Hill, California, deputies said (screengrab via KTTV; image of Aguilar via her family).
Firefighters made a grim discovery as they responded to a burning garage last week: a schoolteacher was dead and burned in a vehicle trunk.
The victim is Veronica Aguilar, 27, an elementary school teacher living in a home owned by the suspect, Matthew Switalski, 37, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in California said that authorities got a call regarding a house fire Wednesday morning at the 41400 block of 38th Street West, in Quartz Hill, a suburban area located around 65 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
“The garage and its contents were on fire upon arrival of deputy and fire personnel,” the department said in a news release.
In the garage, firefighters discovered a woman’s burned body in the trunk of a vehicle. Authorities did not identify her at the time. The county medical examiner’s office has yet to determine Aguilar’s cause and manner of death, online records show.
Authorities found the homeowner, Matthew Switalski, 37, on Thursday in Kern County, some 90 miles northwest of Quartz Hill
“Through investigation, Homicide investigators determined Mr. Switalski to be a suspect in this case and he was subsequently arrested for murder and booked at Lancaster Sheriff’s Station,” deputies wrote.
Records show Switalski remains held on $10 million bail.
He was arraigned in June and released on $600,000 for charges of rape and sexual misconduct with a romantic partner, according to the Times. The victim in that case was not identified.
Asking not to be identified, a neighbor told Los Angeles CW affiliate KTLA about hearing “a blood-curdling scream” at around 2 a.m. on Wednesday.
“I had just opened my window after I was finished with some work and when I went to go check, I didn’t hear it anymore,” the person said.
Switalski used to work for weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman and rented out rooms in the home to employees, neighbors reportedly said.
The nature of Aguilar and Switalski’s relationship is not entirely clear. Neighbors said that Switalski was thought to be Aguilar’s boyfriend, according to Los Angeles Fox affiliate KTTV.
“Things will never be the same ever again,” her brother Juan Aguilar said in a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the funeral. “We miss her so much. She had the best spirit she always had a smile. My family is heartbroken. My sister Veronica was so smart. She was an elementary school teacher, a UCLA graduate, and an amazing person in all.”
From deputies:
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google play or the Apple App Store or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
