Homicide detectives say they have solved the slaying of a woman whose body was found stabbed and burned on the side of a Bakersfield highway two years ago.
A passing motorist found the body of the 27-year-old Karla Terron on December 17, 2022, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. She was stabbed several times and her body was set on fire before she was discovered.
Shortly after 5 a.m. Wednesday, homicide investigators served an arrest warrant in the 1500 block of Knox Street in San Fernando and took 30-year-old Juan Figueroa into custody on suspicion of murder.
Jail records show Figueroa is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and is due in court Friday. Detectives said they are working to make additional arrests in the case and the investigation is ongoing. The case will be presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office for charges against Figueroa.
Terron was last seen alive at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3834 in San Fernando on December 16, 2022, homicide investigators said. She met a group of friends, but later went to a home in San Fernando. Her body was found in Bakersfield on the side of Highway 99 around 5 a.m. the next morning, according to authorities.
Her body is believed to have been transported to the side of the highway in the trunk of a white 2021 Honda CRV, sheriff’s officials said. The vehicle was later found, impounded and DNA evidence discovered inside was traced to Terron, according to homicide investigators who renewed their requests for tips from the public in July.
An autopsy concluded that Terron was stabbed to death, according to homicide investigators.
Terron was a mother of two and worked as a waitress at a restaurant near the VFW Post where she was last seen alive.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department’s homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500.