SANTA ANA, Calif. – An Anaheim woman accused of killing and decapitating her boyfriend of two months has been arrested in Mexico and was returned to the United States to face murder charges in Orange County.
Alyssa Marie Lira, 23, of Anaheim, has been charged with one felony count of murder and one felony enhancement of personally using a weapon. She faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life if convicted on all counts.
For the past five months, Anaheim Police homicide detectives have been working with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Organized Crime Unit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Orange County Resident Agency, and the FBI’s Assistant Legal Attachés in Mexico, as well as Mexican Authorities, to locate and arrest Lira in connection with the murder of her boyfriend, 55-year-old Enrique Gonzalez-Carbajal. On January 22, 2026, Lira was taken into custody in Mexico.
The following day, Anaheim Police homicide detectives took custody of Lira at the San Ysidro Point of Entry and booked her into the Anaheim Police Department Detention Facility on suspicion of murder.
On August 25, 2025, Gonzalez-Carbajal’s headless body was discovered in Lira’s home.
During the course of the investigation, Anaheim homicide detectives identified Lira, as a suspect and determined that she had immediately fled to Mexico after the murder.
Lira is scheduled to be arraigned on February 13, 2026, at the North Justice Center in Department N3. She is currently being held at the Orange County Jail without bail.
“Nothing, not time, not distance, nor foreign borders, will thwart our pursuit of justice, and Orange County law enforcement will continue to go the very ends of the earth to carry out our mission and hold criminals accountable for the heinous acts they commit,” said Orange County District Attorney’s Office. “This investigation and prosecution are a testament to the tenacity and the dedication of the Anaheim Police Department, of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, and of our federal and international partners to identify a cold-blooded killer, track her down in a foreign country, and bring her back to the United States to face the full weight of the law.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Birney of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
Previous Criminal Record
Lira was previously arrested in May of 2021 by the Garden Grove police after a traffic stop, which we reported about here. She was 18 years-old at the time and lived in Gardena. She was driving the car when officers pulled her over for CVC violations. Both she and the passenger, Jose Rivera (22-years-old of Anaheim), were continually uncooperative with officers.
They were eventually taken into custody and booked at Orange County Jail for felony possession of a firearm and multiple charges of controlled substance for sale.
During the search and inventory of the car, officers located a loaded Glock 43 “ghost gun”, methamphetamine, Xanax, $3658.00 in currency and indicia indicative of narcotic sales.