Corona Man Arrested After Battered Body Is Found

A Corona man was arrested Wednesday after police discovered the body of 39-year-old man who apparently had been beaten to death with a cinder block in an abandoned hotel.

George E. Lopez, 44, was taken into custody while working at the Corona Car Wash and was charged with murder, Sgt. Ray Cota said.

Officers were dispatched to the Bomar Hotel, 1015 W. 6th St., Corona, Wednesday morning after an anonymous female caller told them that Lopez was responsible for the murder of Peter Lucero of Corona.

Lucero was found in the office of the hotel, which has been closed about three years, Cota said. He had multiple head injuries, and blood and hair were found on a nearby cinder block, Cota said.

The female caller, who Cota said was identified later in the day, told police that Lopez worked at the car wash across the street. Officers arrested him after finding the body.

Cota said no motive has been established but that the two man had been fighting.