Man Arrested for Decade-Old Murder of Ex-Girlfriend in San Rafael

Photo courtesy of the San Rafael Police Department

By Bay City News Service

San Rafael police arrested a man on suspicion of killing his former girlfriend, who also was the mother of his four children, more than 10 years ago, a police lieutenant said.

Francisco Carrillo-Perez, 49, was arrested in December 2014 in Guatemala for the murder of 25-year-old Ana Mejia on June 25, 2005, Lt. Dan Fink said.

His extradition process was concluded, and he was arrested by San Rafael police detectives at San Francisco International Airport around 12:40 a.m. Friday.

He is being held on $1 million bail in the Marin County Jail.

Mejia was reported missing on June 25, 2005, after she did not report for work or answer her phone. San Rafael police checked motels in the area and found her car in the parking lot of the San Rafael Inn at 865 E. Francisco Blvd. in San Rafael, Fink said.

Officers looked in the window of the room she was staying in and saw her inside, and it was determined she was dead from a gunshot wound, Fink said.

Detectives focused on Carrillo-Perez, Mejia’s former boyfriend, as the suspect. Mejia and Carrillo-Perez had four children and had been in a very volatile relationship with instances of domestic violence, Fink said.

Mejia and the children left Carrillo-Perez in Southern California and moved to San Rafael.

Carrillo-Perez went to visit the children in San Rafael on or around June 25, 2005, Fink said. After the visitation, Mejia met with Carrillo-Perez and she was never seen alive again.

When detectives went to Southern California to interview Carrillo-Perez, they learned he had returned to his native home in Guatemala, Fink said.

Detectives worked with the Marin County District Attorney’s Office to get a federal warrant for his arrest, and worked with the FBI and United States Attorney’s Office to capture Carrillo-Perez and return him to the United States, Fink said.