Just here to work..................right...........................

Laborer held in slashing
BY SUSAN ABRAM, Staff Writer
WOODLAND HILLS - A 32-year-old Canoga Park man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of a woman who was found in her car with her throat slashed, authorities said Tuesday.
Miguel Guarhaj, who police describe as an area day laborer, was arrested Saturday at a Tarzana home where he was working, Los Angeles Police Department detectives said. He is being held without bail at the Van Nuys jail.
On Friday afternoon, someone who lives in the 20300 block of Oxnard Street found Mayra Lopez, 24, of Canoga Park inside a parked car in the alley near his house. The man called 911 and paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
Neighbors told police they had seen the car parked in different spots in the alley that day. One resident told police he had recognized Guarhaj because he had employed him at one time, LAPD West Valley Detective Rick Swanston said.
Police said they then searched Guarhaj's residence on Variel Street

and found Lopez's bloodied clothing and cell phone. She also was the registered owner of the car in which she was found. And she lived on Variel Street, not far from where Guarhaj lived, Swanston said.
The motive for her death is still under investigation, but Lopez's family told police Guarhaj had at one time tried to date Lopez, and that she refused his advances.
In August, Guarhaj was arrested on suspicion of striking and choking her during a dispute. He failed to appear in court, and a warrant went out for his arrest, Swanston said.
susan.abram@dailynews.com
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