Julio Lastra

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http://www.ldnews.com/ci_10565768?source=most_viewed

Authorities in two states today are continuing their search for a 32-year-old Lebanon man they believe killed a woman in Berks County early yesterday morning, put her body in the trunk of a car and drove to Dauphin County, where he escaped from police about an hour later.
Julio Lastra of 1130 Brandywine St. is being sought for the murder of 41-year-old Marisol Rivera, who was renting a home in the 500 block of Frystown Road in Bethel Township, Berks County.
The grim discovery of Rivera’s murder came about 1 a.m. yesterday after state troopers saw a westbound Chevrolet Lumina turn left onto South Blue Ribbon Avenue in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, against a red traffic signal. Troopers followed the car, which they soon found wrecked near Paxtonia Elementary School off Jonestown Road.
Troopers attempted to administer a field sobriety test to the driver, but he ran into a wooded area nearby, police said. In trying to identify him, police searched the car and found Rivera’s body in the trunk. Rivera had borrowed the car from friends, said Sgt. Raymond Guth of the state police at Reading.
Around the same time, and two counties east, state police from Hamburg discovered their own grim scene at Rivera’s rented home in the 500 block of Frystown Road. A friend of Rivera’s, fearing for her safety, had asked police to check on her.
Police, who reached the house about 1:15 a.m., say Rivera likely had been murdered shortly after midnight.
Police did not reveal a motive or identify the weapon used in the killing. They did not say what they found at the house other than referring to it as a “gruesome scene.”
“Evidently, (Lastra) had already left with her in the trunk of the car” by the time troopers arrived, Guth said. Rivera’s 8-year-old daughter was alone in the house, sleeping, when troopers arrived, Guth said. The girl is now in protective custody. Rivera’s other three children were not home at the time.
A few hours after the traffic stop, between 3 and 5 a.m., a silver Cadillac sport utility vehicle was stolen from a home in the 7500 block of Jonestown Road, about four miles away in West Hanover Township. The vehicle was recovered some 10 hours later in Baltimore.
Police believe Lastra was the one who stole the vehicle, though they are not certain. The vehicle is being brought back to Harrisburg for further investigation.
“We can’t say for sure that he’s the one who got out of that car in Baltimore, Maryland,” Guth said. “People up here and down there need to be watchful. They have to watch for him.”
Police would not say what kind of relationship Rivera and Lastra shared, but they did say their families knew each other.
The murder comes three days after Mari Reyes of Lebanon obtained a protection-from-abuse order against Lastra. The PFA identifies Reyes as Lastra’s current or former girlfriend but does not indicate any relationship between Reyes and Rivera.
In the order, Reyes identifies Lastra as “a paranoid schizophrenic.” She was prompted to seek the PFA on Sunday when “someone called me to warn that I was in danger and that Julio was going to kill me that night.” That followed at least four other incidents of abuse since 2005, the order shows.
The PFA had not been served on Lastra by the time of Rivera’s death, sources said.
“We’re looking for him, where he may be, and we’re talking to other people, family members and acquaintances,” Guth said.
An autopsy on Rivera was to be performed this morning.
Her Frystown Road neighborhood was quiet after the murder yesterday, but one neighbor, who wished not to be named, said she knew something was happening at 4 a.m., when the roads were being shut down.
“It’s like shock treatment to the neighborhood,” she said. “I knew something big is going on. I saw it on TV, and we talked about it at work, so I knew what happened before I got home.”
State police described Lastra as Hispanic, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 190 to 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt, blue jeans, sandals and light-colored socks. He has several known aliases, including Jose Ramon Ayala and Jose Ayala-Ayala.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call state police at Hamburg at (610) 562-6885 or state police at Jonestown at (717) 865-2194.

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