Boyfriend arrested after girlfriend found dead in abandoned lot, Oregon police say

Daniella Segura / The News Tribune (TNS)
Posted 1/14/25

A man has been arrested after his missing girlfriend’s body was found in an abandoned lot, Oregon police say.

Erik Mauricio Meza was booked into jail Thursday, Jan. 9, in relation to the …

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Boyfriend arrested after girlfriend found dead in abandoned lot, Oregon police say

Posted

A man has been arrested after his missing girlfriend’s body was found in an abandoned lot, Oregon police say.

Erik Mauricio Meza was booked into jail Thursday, Jan. 9, in relation to the death of Priscilla Joann Aldana, the Salem Police Department said in a Jan. 10 news release.

Aldana, 43, was reported missing Dec. 23 after she was last seen Friday, Dec. 20, police said in a Dec. 27 news release.

A little more than a week later, a body was found “outside a burned structure on an abandoned lot,” police said.

The state medical examiner’s office identified the body as Aldana and ruled her death as a homicide, according to police. Authorities said she had been shot in the head.

“I just had a feeling that she had never left Salem,” Aldana’s mother, Iris Ayala, told KGW. “There was no news coming back. No updates, no nothing. They were coming up empty-handed everywhere that they searched and looked and talked to people.”

An investigation led detectives to identify Meza, who Aldana was “in a domestic relationship” with, as a suspect, police said.

Meza was booked into jail on multiple second-degree charges, including murder, abuse of a corpse and arson, according to police.



“I’m going to remember her just the way that she was from the day she was born until the last moment I saw her: a wonderful individual with a great, big heart,” Ayala told KGW.

A Facebook group dedicated to finding justice for Aldana described her as “a beautiful soul who brought love and joy to her family and community.”

“She was a loving mother, a caring friend, and a woman who deserved so much more time with her loved ones,” a loved one said.

If you are experiencing domestic violence and need someone to talk to, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for support at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.

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