Woman allegedly killed by boyfriend was pregnant, prosecutors say

An 18-year-old woman who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend last month was pregnant, Los Angeles County prosecutors said Wednesday.

Devion Keith Anderson, 22, has now been charged with murder in the deaths of both Maria Criollo Gonzalez and her fetus. Gonzales died of suffocation and strangulation, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

Anderson is accused of burying Gonzalez’s body in the backyard of his family’s Compton home in the 400 block of South Pannes Avenue. A family member tipped off police, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies found freshly dug dirt and eventually uncovered a body.

Anderson, who is being held on $1-million bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 17.

The death was one of more than 30 homicides reported last year in Compton; the city’s annual average since 2007 is 31, according to The Times’ Homicide Report database. Compton’s population of nearly 100,000 -- about 1% of Los Angeles County -- accounted for about 6% of the county’s nearly 600 homicides in 2013.

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