Victim in Yule Double Slaying Is Identified : Crime: Official says man who killed his girlfriend and her son then himself at Stanton home ‘didn’t want to let her go.’

A woman shot and killed in a double slaying and suicide Saturday has been identified as 22-year-old Rafaela Guevara, sheriff’s officials said Monday.

The woman and her 6-month-old son were killed by her boyfriend, whose name has not been released pending notification of relatives, Sheriff’s Lt. Tom Garner said.

“Apparently, they were having problems in their life together,” Garner said. “She didn’t want to stay with him and he didn’t want to let her go.”

The couple and the baby had lived together for about six months in a bedroom of a home in the 8200 block of Cerritos Avenue, where their bodies were discovered. The boyfriend did not want Guevara to work or leave the house, adding to their problems, according to Garner and neighbors.

Guevara had moved out of the house about a month ago and had taken a job in Orange. But the man had persuaded her to come back on Christmas Eve, which they spent at Knott’s Berry Farm and at the beach, said Nicolas Munoz, 39, who also lived in the house.

“He was a man who was very jealous,” Munoz said. “They would try to pretend that everything was OK, but we knew that they were having problems.”

Munoz, who rents the three-bedroom house, had sublet a room to the couple.

Guevara and the man had shared a Christmas meal with Munoz and his family before the shootings, which occurred about 2 p.m. Saturday.

“He talked about how much he loved her and everything seemed fine,” Munoz said. “We had no idea this would happen.”

Later on Christmas Day, Guevara called her sister to come pick her up, telling her that the couple were having problems, Garner said.

Before the sister arrived, however, the man went to his car, retrieved a large box with a 12-gauge shotgun in it, then shot the woman and her child before turning the gun on himself.

Garner said the suspect was not the father of the baby.

Munoz’s wife, Maria, was in the living room and heard the gunshots. She ran to a neighbor’s house to call the Sheriff’s Department.

Munoz said his family has not slept in the house since the shootings and are considering moving.

“My wife is taking it very hard because she was home ironing when it happened,” Munoz said. “She is very sick about it and scared. She wants to move and never go back into the house.”