Camp Pendleton

A body found near Lake Skinner in Riverside County has been identified as that of 22-year-old Brittany Dawn Killgore, a Marine wife missing since Friday, the San Diego County medical examiner's office announced Wednesday. Meanwhile, Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Ray Perez, 45, considered a person of interest in the case, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in San Diego County Superior Court in Vista to charges of receiving stolen property and possession of a stolen assault rifle. Bail was set at $500,000.

SAN DIEGO -- A body, possibly of a Marine wife missing since Friday, has been found in rural Riverside County near Lake Skinner, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday. Authorities also have arrested a 27-year-old woman on suspicion of homicide in connection with the disappearance of 22-year-old Brittany Dawn Killgore, Sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser said. The suspect, Jessica Lynn Lopez, was found Tuesday morning in a San Diego motel after an apparent suicide attempt and was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center, Fraser said.

After the formal ceremony was over, after the traditional order to "honor the dead" had been given, Marines and family members approached what are called battlefield crosses: individual displays of boots, dog tags, pictures and inverted rifles. Sgt. Dane Bell strode to the display honoring his friend, Sgt. William Stacey, killed by a roadside bomb while on his fifth combat tour. After their son's death, Stacey's parents had made public a letter he had written in which he told them not to mourn if he was killed because "it was all worth it. " That was Stacey, Bell said quietly, never a second thought about the mission.

CAMP PENDLETON - A Marine Corps board Thursday night recommended that a sergeant who made "contemptuous" comments about President Obama be booted from the service and be given an other than honorable discharge. Sgt. Gary Stein, who left a variety of anti-Obama comments on a Facebook page, was stoic when the three-member board announced its decision at about 11 p.m. after an all-day hearing. The final decision on Stein's status will be made by the commanding general of the Marine Corp Recruit Depot San Diego.

For 37 years, the identity of a young man beaten to death in an carport in Long Beach remained a mystery. Not only did detectives not know who the assailant was, but they were never able to identify the victim, found naked and dead on Spring Street near the 605 Freeway on Nov. 10, 1974. The case of John Doe No. 155 gathered dust on the shelves of the Long Beach Police Department, hidden among the dozens of unsolved mysteries. His death was ruled undetermined. Last year, Long Beach cold-case detectives scoured the files for cases to reopen and stumbled upon the mystery man dumped at the Lakes apartment complex.

After a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Marine Corps is tweaking its recruiting pitch to emphasize not just combat prowess but also the Marines' involvement in humanitarian missions. A new 60-second television commercial, “Toward the Sounds of Chaos,” is set to make its debut on ESPN during Saturday's Big 12 championship basketball game. A shortened version will be shown in theaters. Similarly themed materials will be deployed to social media sites and recruiters' offices.

At long last: Dunkin' Donuts is coming to California. But don't get too excited - the shop will be on the Camp Pendleton military base. This spring, the cult-favorite East Coast chain will launch its first Golden State location in many years in San Diego County, accessible only to the 64,000 people who live, work and train at the base. Dunkin' Donuts, which hasn't operated in California since a short-lived Sacramento store closed a decade ago, said it has no plans to open any other restaurants in the state “at this time.” In recent years, Californians have reported several sightings around the state of what inevitably turns out to be a non-Dunkin' shop with a similar name or look.

Some described the big-shouldered Marine's soft way of talking, others the discipline he expected from his troops. All spoke of the religious faith he wore as openly as his uniform. "He wasn't the kind of guy that went to church on Sunday and on Monday was out raising hell," said Nils Bjorn, a civilian who worked with Sgt. Manuel L. Loggins Jr. at Camp Pendleton. "He was a religious guy who put his family first. " Of Loggins' death earlier this month, he added: "It does seem kind of senseless.

Seven Marines were killed in a midair collision of two attack helicopters in a remote part of Imperial County, the Marine Corps said Thursday. The collision between an AH-1W Super Cobra and a UH-1Y Super Huey occurred about 8 p.m. Wednesday during a routine training mission called Scorpion Fire. The training, part of preparations for deployment, was within an hour of suspending for the night. Six of the seven victims were from Camp Pendleton and the other was from the Marine base in Yuma, Ariz.

Camp Pendleton's commanding officer said he is displeased with the "incorrect and deeply hurtful" comments made about a Marine sergeant who was fatally shot by an Orange County sheriff's deputy in a dark high school parking lot. "While I am confident they will do the right thing in the end, I am less than satisfied with the official response from the city of San Clemente and Orange County," Col. Nicholas Marano said in a written statement Thursday....