Man, 23, Arrested in Bride’s Death

A 23-year-old Torrance man has been arrested in connection with the death of his new bride, whose body was discovered by fishermen at the bottom of a cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes, authorities said Wednesday.

Brandon Jason Manai is accused of throwing his wife, Julia Cuevas Rosas, 24, of Norwalk off a 200-foot-high cliff near Calle Entradero and Palos Verdes Drive West, said Sgt. Robert Taylor of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide bureau.

The couple had been married for two weeks.

Rosas’ body was found the afternoon of July 3 on rocks near the base of the cliff. Investigators believe that she had been thrown that morning, Taylor said. Detectives believe Rosas approached Manai about a divorce or an annulment, and that may have led to her death, he said.

In the days before her death, Rosas had complained to friends and co-workers about her husband’s possessiveness, constant phone calls and text messages to her cellphone, Taylor said. He added that she had also begun asking friends about how to annul her marriage.

The couple began dating in March and wed June 19 but maintained separate residences, Taylor said. Rosas worked for a Bally’s Total Fitness corporate office and lived with family members in Norwalk. Manai, who worked for Hertz Corp., lived with his mother in Torrance, authorities said.

“We can only speculate as to what happened to cause such a terrible and heinous act to occur, and it seems from the investigation that what keeps coming up is the spur-of-the-moment marriage. She was now questioning that, and it caused enough rage [for Manai] to throw her off the cliff side,” Taylor said.

Manai was on parole for violating a restraining order filed against him in 1999 by his then-girlfriend in San Jose. Manai began harassing her shortly after she broke off their relationship, detectives said.

Authorities said they believed that Rosas may have suffered a miscarriage before her marriage to Manai, who may have been the father.

“We are seeking hospital records to further confirm, but we do know she wasn’t [pregnant] at the time of death,” Taylor said.

Manai is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today at the Torrance courthouse.