SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Just one day after police discovered a body on the Barona Indian Reservation, they arrested 79-year-old Mehria Mansury's daughter.
San Diego Police homicide officers took Ghazal "Gazelle" Mansury, 42, into custody shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday in City Heights, near the intersection of Dwight St. and Cherokee Ave. Her boyfriend Lucio Moreno, 57, was also detained but was not arrested.
Mansury was booked into jail last Thursday night, and News8 cameras caught her being escorted by police, handcuffed and wearing a white jumpsuit.
The elderly Mansury was last seen at her Serra Mesa home at about 8 a.m. on September 24. The couple arrested Thursday had lived on and off in the house on Amulet Street, neighbors told News 8.
Officers staked out the City Heights neighborhood for more than six hours, before converging on the couple as they exited a friend's house. Ghazal Mansury was riding a bicycle and Moreno was on foot at the time they were taken into custody.
The couple was handcuffed and driven away in a marked police vehicle. Officers booked Ghazal Mansury into jail Thursday night on suspicion of first degree murder. Investigators questioned Moreno Thursday night at San Diego Police headquarters but he has not been booked into jail.
Final charges are pending review by the office of the San Diego County District Attorney.
Court records show both Ghazal Mansury and Lucio Moreno are on probation, with a history of theft and drug-related arrests, including possession of methamphetamine.
In 2007, Moreno was charged with possession of methamphetamine and cocaine, while armed with a shotgun, according to court records.
In 2010, Ghazal Mansury pleaded guilty to burglary, a felony, for using a stolen credit card, records show.
The current case has been sealed by the medical examiner because of the ongoing investigation, autopsy results have not been released, and the body still has not been officially identified.
Family members reported they were providing DNA in order to positively identify the remains.
Homicide detectives planned to provide an update on the case Friday morning, SDPD public-affairs Lt. Kevin Mayer said. The department would have no other comment until then, he said.
Investigators have served at least two search warrants on the Serra Mesa home, including a raid on the home Wednesday night. At that time, officers drove the daughter away in an unmarked vehicle and later released her.
The police raid coincided with the discovery of the unidentified, woman's body off Wildcat Canyon Road in the East County on Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier this week, authorities offered a $6,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Mehria Mansury.
For several days, search teams hiked through overgrown open areas in and around the neighborhood near Qualcomm Stadium. Family members posted fliers in the neighborhood with the missing woman's photograph.