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Lizzbeth Aleman-Popoca, a 27-year-old mother, was murdered by her longtime boyfriend, Jonnathan Jara-Aucapina, in July 2020, in East Haven, Connecticut.
He attempted to cover up the crime by making false complaints against officers. The murder deeply affected Lizzbeth's family, including her 7-year-old daughter.
The Crime Junkie podcast on December 16, 2024, covers the investigation of Lizzbeth's tragic death. The episode reveals how her boyfriend's lies and manipulations led to him being convicted.
The disappearance and discovery of Lizzbeth Aleman-Popoca
On July 3, 2020, Lizzbeth's family filed a missing persons report since she hadn't come home for days. Her boyfriend, Jonnathan Jara-Aucapina, had claimed that Lizzbeth had traveled to Mexico to marry someone there so that she could "get her papers straight."
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Police had only just started investigating, but they soon uncovered the opposite story.
According to NBC News, Jara-Aucapina's initial report to police on July 1, claiming he last saw Lizzbeth in the morning, was disproved by footage showing him driving her car later that day. Police also discovered he bought a hoe and shovel from a Home Depot in East Haven shortly after her death.
Later, Lizzbeth's body was found buried in a shallow grave located behind a Branford restaurant named LoMonaco's Ristoranto Italiano. A state police cadaver dog led the detectives to the gory location after he picked the scent of a body from the car of the victim.
The investigation and lies unraveled
Once Lizzbeth Aleman-Popoca's body was discovered, it was evident that Jara-Aucapina had lied. According to the New Haven Register, he initially told the police that Lizzbeth was still in bed when he left for work that morning and that their daughter had called him later to say that her mother was gone.
However, police disproved his claims as he was seen driving Lizzbeth's car after he had reported it missing.
It was later found that Jara-Aucapina had researched online about how to lower the back seats of Lizzbeth's Lexus and even attempted to sell the car hours after her murder. His attempt to cover up the crime was exposed through cellphone data and surveillance footage that placed him near the crime scene at the time of the killing.
Jara-Aucapina's lies were exposed, and he was finally apprehended for murder. In The Connecticut Post detectives learned that Lizzbeth Aleman-Popoca was asphyxiated. Homicide was the finding at autopsy, and in more investigation, the brutality of this crime was revealed.
Conviction and Sentence of Jonnathan Jara-Aucapina
Police believe Jara-Aucapina killed Aleman-Popoca in their East Haven home between 11:41 p.m. on June 30 and 3:18 a.m. on July 1, 2020.
Jonnathan Jara-Aucapina pleaded guilty in February 2024 to the murder of Lizzbeth Aleman-Popoca. According to NBC Connecticut, he was given a 25-year imprisonment term for the crime.
According to The Connecticut Post, State's Attorney John P. Doyle empathized with the family of Lizzbeth Aleman-Popoca. He thanked the efforts of the investigators who worked hard to put Jara-Aucapina behind bars.
For more on this case, listen to the full Crime Junkie episode, which goes further into the details of the investigation and all the twists and turns that led up to Jonnathan Jara-Aucapina's arrest and conviction.
