Glendora Man, 19, in House Arrest Program Held in Slaying of His Live-In Girlfriend

A 19-year-old Glendora man--who was released from Los Angeles County Jail last month and placed under house arrest for failure to appear on several traffic violations--was back behind bars Thursday for allegedly killing his live-in girlfriend.

Police arrested Sigfredo Arias Jr. and his father Wednesday evening in connection with the death of Elizabeth Andia, 19, whose body was found in the garage of the house she shared with the younger Arias.

A relative of Andia called authorities and asked Glendora police to check on the woman, who had been out of contact with her relatives for a couple of days, said Angie Trewett, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.

Officers went to Arias’ home Wednesday evening and found the woman’s body in the garage. Both men were in the house when police arrived. Coroner’s investigators were still trying to determine the cause of death.

David Davies, the pretrial services administrator with the Los Angeles County Probation Department, confirmed that the younger Arias had been released from jail Jan. 8 and placed on the county’s electronic monitoring program, designed to reduce crowding in the overburdened jail system.

Arias had been sentenced to 87 days in custody on three counts of failing to appear in court for driving with a suspended license. Because Arias’ violation was considered minor, he qualified for the home arrest program, which is run by the Probation Department, Davies said.

“There is nothing in this person’s background to suggest that something like this could occur,” Davies said. “The charge he was in on was a relatively minor charge.”

Sheriff’s officials said that over the past year, Glendora police officers had investigated at least one incident of domestic violence involving Andia and her boyfriend and five separate incidents of family disturbances.

“He had a history of being abusive toward her,” said Lt. Ray Peavy of the sheriff’s homicide bureau.

According to Davies, there are about 600 people in the county’s electronic monitoring program on any given day. The rate of criminals skipping out on the program or committing other crimes is about 8%, Davies said.

“Usually [people who commit] low-risk crimes are eligible for the program,” he said. “We do risk assessments based on criminal record, community ties and employment.”

But he added: “Criminal behavior is not an exact science of predictability.”