Police Identify Body Discovered in Sun Valley

Police have identified a female body found in November as that of a 27-year-old Culver City resident who worked as a baby-sitter to support her four young children.

Anna Chicas, who emigrated to the United States from El Salvador in 1991, was strangled and her body dumped in the parking lot of a Sun Valley computer store Nov. 11, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

After a fruitless search of dental and fingerprint records, police distributed to the news media and public a composite drawing of the woman in an attempt to find someone who knew her.

“This poor gal had never been involved in anything” illegal, “so there was nothing on file on her,” Detective Oscar Carballo said.

It wasn’t until Dec. 1, five days after her cousin submitted a missing persons report, that her body was positively identified, Carballo said.

“If she had never been reported missing, we would never have found out who she was,” Carballo said.

Now, police are looking for Armando Serrano, described as a 52-year-old transient from El Salvador, whom they believe may have been involved in the death of Chicas.

Serrano, Carballo said, was Chicas’ boyfriend and has probably fled to his home country.

It is unclear what the motive was in the killing, Carballo said, adding that it probably stemmed from a domestic dispute.

Chicas is survived by four children between 5 and 10 years old, Carballo said, all of whom now live with their grandmother in El Salvador.