After Woman's Body Dumped In Anza, Hemet Man Charged With Murder

HEMET, CA — A man accused of killing a 43-year-old Hemet woman was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder.

Joseph Wayne Rainey, 40, of Hemet was arrested last week following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation into the death of Jessica Rodriguez.

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Rainey, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center, was slated to make his initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Carlos Mendoza, on the afternoon of Oct. 23, passers-by came upon the remains of a woman dumped in the area of Bautista Canyon and Willis roads in the unincorporated community of Anza.

Deputies were called to the location and couldn't immediately determine how the victim, quickly identified as Rodriguez, had died. An autopsy a few days later confirmed she "was the victim of a homicide," Mendoza said.

Central Homicide Unit detectives assumed the investigation and identified Rainey as the alleged assailant. He was taken into custody without incident Thursday on State Street in Hemet.

"Investigators seized multiple items related to the investigation" during a search of the defendant's residence, according to Mendoza.

He did not disclose a possible motive, the specific means by which Rodriguez died, or her relationship to Rainey, who has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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