An Orange County man accused of killing his girlfriend and leaving her body in an alleyway dumpster was found guilty of murder.
Following a trial, Amer Alhasan, 33, was found guilty of first-degree murder for the 2018 death of Tiyanie Ly, who was 38 at the time, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Alhasan was arrested on Oct. 31, 2018, at LAX airport when he tried to flee the country one day after Ly’s body was discovered, Anaheim police said.
Ly was a mother of three young children who lived in Santa Ana. Her body was found by a man picking through garbage for recyclables on the 2100 block of South Balboa Plaza.
She was found stuffed inside a suitcase-type bag and left in a dumpster behind an Anaheim residential complex.
Detectives later identified her boyfriend, Alhasan, as the suspect and filed murder charges against him on Nov. 2, 2018.
At the time, Ly’s loved ones had not been able to contact her, but hadn’t reported her missing just yet, police said.
Ly’s brother-in-law, Adam Margaros, said she worked the graveyard shift as an ultrasound technician but would always take her kids to school in the morning.
The last time they saw her was the morning before her body was found, when she dropped her kids off. Later that night, when she didn’t return home from work, her family began to worry.
“It was kind of strange because we know that she would never miss picking up the kids,” Margaros said.
After seeing news reports of the grisly discovery the next morning, her family called the police to ask if Ly may have been the victim.
“We had heard the reports of what had happened in Anaheim and it was heavy in our hearts,” Margaros said. “Everybody was really worried because it seemed like it was at the right time in the right area.”
Ly and her children — a 10-year-old daughter an 8-year-old son and a 4-year-old son at the time — lived with her parents. Loved ones said Ly kept her personal life to herself and her family didn’t know much about Alhasan at the time.
“We relied on her phone and stuff like that to find who he was and from there, they got him,” Margaros said of Alhasan’s arrest.
Alhasan was intercepted before he was about to board a flight to Jordan. He was checked into the flight with “a significant amount of personal belongings” during his arrest, police said.
Police said at the time, they had reports that he may have recently committed a sexual assault in Jordan, where he had familial ties, before fleeing back to the U.S.
The family said they’re grateful to Anaheim police for their quick work as they continue grieving over Ly while also helping her children process the loss.
“She’s a great person,” Margaros said. “She’s one of those types of people that have a big heart, loves everyone.”
Alhasan was found guilty of first-degree murder and is expected to be sentenced in the near future, the DA’s office said.