Anaheim woman, accused of decapitating her boyfriend, is brought back from Mexico

A 23-year-old Anaheim woman who fled to Mexico after she allegedly decapitated her 55-year-old boyfriend last year was extradited back to Orange County, authorities said.

Ashley Marie Lira will make her first court appearance in Fullerton on Feb. 13, when she may enter a plea, said Kimberly Edds, an Orange County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman. Charged with murder, Lira faces a maximum sentence of 26 years to life if convicted.

The type of weapon used was not known, Edds said.

On Aug. 25, 2025, Anaheim police responded to Lira’s home in the 1300 block of East La Palma Avenue and inside found Enrique Gonzalez-Carbajal’s headless body, Edds said.

Lira, who had dated Gonzalez-Carbajal for two months, was identified as a suspect, Edds said, with officers learning she immediately fled to Mexico after the slaying.

For five months, Orange County, Mexican and FBI authorities worked to find and arrest her.

On Jan. 22, she was taken into custody by Mexican authorities, Edds said, and the next day Anaheim detectives picked her up at the San Ysidro border crossing.

She was being held in jail without the possibility of bail.

“Nothing, not time, not distance, nor foreign borders, will thwart our pursuit of justice, and Orange County law enforcement will continue to go to the very ends of the earth to carry out our mission and hold criminals accountable for the heinous acts they commit,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.

He called Lira a “cold-blooded killer.”