Thread: Woman killed in Tijuana home invasion UPDATE Twist

Woman killed in Tijuana home invasion

By UNION-TRIBUNE
Monday, November 23, 2009 at 6:12 p.m.

TIJUANA – A 54-year-old Finnish citizen was killed late Sunday in the Playas de Tijuana section of the city in what appears to be a home invasion robbery, the Baja California Attorney General’s Office reported.

Kaija Helena Kauppinen Conway was found dead on the second floor of the residence after the attack, with signs on her body indicating she had been beaten, the report said.

The woman’s companion, a U.S. citizen, told investigators that he and the victim were home when two assailants dressed in black and wearing hoods broke into the residence, according to a police source who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to give information to the media. The robbers bound the man’s feet and hands with adhesive tape and demanded to know where the money was located, the source said.

Once the robbers had gone and he was able to free himself, the man said he found Conway dead in the other room, where she had been bound.

At the house, investigators found an identification card indicating Conway was also a legal permanent U.S. resident.

The man is not considered a suspect and is cooperating with authorities.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009 ... -invasion/

American killed live-in girlfriend, officials say

Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 1:03 a.m.

Tijuana: A Finnish woman found dead at her Tijuana home Sunday was killed in a dispute with her live-in boyfriend, a U.S. citizen named Robert Alan Frascarelli, the Baja California Attorney General’s Office said yesterday.

Frascarelli, 49, told investigators he used a hammer to repeatedly strike Kaija Helena Kauppinen Conway, 54, said Fermin Gomez, deputy attorney general. Frascarelli then strangled her, Gomez said. Conway was a U.S. permanent resident.

Frascarelli, who is in Mexican custody, had been living in Tijuana with Conway for three months and was being supported by her, investigators said. He told authorities she had humiliated him, demanding that he clean the carpets and wash her clothes, and on Sunday night he grew infuriated when she accused him of stealing $7,000.

Frascarelli was using crystal methamphetamine when he killed Conway, Gomez said. Frascarelli has a U.S. criminal record that includes at least three felony convictions for possession of marijuana. San Diego federal court records show that he was stopped twice at the border trying to smuggle marijuana into the United States.

Frascarelli had initially told investigators that two hooded men had broken into the residence, tied him up and demanded money, and that when he was able to free himself, he found Conway dead in another room. Under questioning, the story unraveled, and Frascarelli confessed, authorities said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009 ... cials-say/