Long Beach man charged with killing girlfriend with machete

A Long Beach man is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges of killing his girlfriend with a machete before turning the
weapon on himself, police said.

Mireya Lopez Medina, 50, was found dead Thursday in the bedroom of the apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Alberto Fonseca Hernandez, in the 1900 block of Cedar Avenue, said Long Beach Police Sgt. Dina Zapalski.

A relative found Medina with slash wounds to her upper body. Hernandez, 40, also
was found in the bedroom, with self-inflicted slash wounds to his upper body.

He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and transferred to jail Monday, where he was being held on $1 million bail after the L.A. County District Attorney's office charged him with murder.

Police believe the killing
and attempted suicide occurred after a domestic dispute.

–Tony Barboza

Map: There have been 72 homicides within two miles of this killing since Jan. 1, 2007, according to the Times' Homicide Report database. Click for an interactive map of homicides in Los Angeles County.