Missing Mother’s Body Found Near Hemet

Police said Friday that the ex-boyfriend of a missing 22-year-old mother of two led them to her body in a remote area southeast of Hemet and will be charged with her murder.

Julian Albert Villa, an unemployed felon who was on parole for a 1991 robbery in Los Angeles County, took police to barren spot in the high desert where they found Diana Garcia Luna, who disappeared on Aug. 11--a few weeks after she filed for a restraining order against him.

“As we developed leads and information, he definitely became more cooperative,” a police source said. “He told us where to look. He led us to her.”

Police said they believe Luna was killed in the area of her Orange apartment. She suffered no gunshot or stab wounds and her clothed body revealed no obvious signs of sexual abuse, a source said. An autopsy is scheduled, and police are continuing the investigation to determine whether an accomplice was involved.

The suspect was paroled from the California Institution for Men in Chino on June 18, but was returned last Tuesday for violating his parole and after being questioned by Orange police about Luna’s disappearance.

According to Luna’s court declaration for the restraining order, the 25-year-old parolee from Whittier had beaten her, shoved her as she cradled their newborn son and threatened to kill her.

“During our relationship, he kept me isolated from family and friends,” Luna said. “I was only allowed to go to and from work. No one from my family was allowed to communicate with me. When we would argue, there would be times he would grab my arms, throw me on the bed or against the wall. I just want him out of my life.”

The discovery of Luna’s body ends nearly two weeks of waiting for her family and co-workers. She disappeared after leaving her part-time waitress job at Peppers Night Club in Garden Grove.

Luna, who worked days as a computer programmer for the federal office of Housing and Urban Development in Santa Ana, gave a co-worker a ride home from Peppers before returning to her apartment on West Chapman Avenue about 3 a.m.

When the father of her 6-year-old daughter, Celeste, arrived to drop the girl off later that morning, Luna was gone, police said. Villa is the father of Luna’s 1 1/2-year-old son, Jesse.

A close friend remembered the Saddleback High School graduate Friday as a feisty woman who poured all her energy into “trying to get ahead, for herself and her kids.”

The man, who asked that his name not be used because of the ongoing investigation, said Friday that Luna took the job at Peppers so she could afford clothes and supplies for her daughter, who started school Wednesday.

Court records show that Luna was in financial straits. She had been sued by Southern California College in Costa Mesa for a student loan payment and by a collection agency for other debts.

Luna was raised by her grandmother, Anita Gomez, who has temporary custody of the two children, the man said.

The relationship with Villa--whom Luna met in church--was marked by violence and jealousy on Villa’s part, neighbors and friends said.

Leah Elias, 22, a neighbor who met Luna in May when she moved into the apartment complex on Chapman Avenue, said she often heard yelling and fighting.

“He is very, very jealous,” Elias said. “They would be walking along and a guy would just say ‘Hi’ to her and he would look like he’s about to start a fight.”

Michael Fremont, chief of the branch of the HUD office where Luna worked, called a psychologist in to the office Friday to comfort bereaved co-workers. Luna had started there four years ago as a receptionist and “worked her way up” to assistant programmer, he said.

“She was an exceptional employee,” Fremont said. “She was very intelligent, bilingual, very outgoing, with a lot of personality. . . . We were praying it would turn out differently.”

Office workers have launched a fund for Luna’s two children. Anyone wishing to contribute should contact Teresa Barbee at HUD at (714) 957-7333.

Contributing to this report were Times staff writer Anna Cekola and correspondent Jeff Kass.