CA - Christine Kunstmann, 44, found buried in Yucaipa, 29 May 2011

Sheriff's investigators have identified the woman found partially buried in a shallow grave last week.

A jogger found the woman's corpse shortly before 11 a.m. July 15 under an Oak Tree off Edgar Canyon Road, about 200 yards northwest of Mile High Ranch Road on Yucaipa's eastern edge.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's officials say the woman was Christine Jo Kunstmann, 44, of Rancho Cucamonga. She is known to have ties to the Banning and Beaumont area and was last known to be at the Peppertree Apartments in Banning during the last week of May, Sheriff's officials said.

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Two months ago, the Sheriff’s Department reopened the case. And on Wednesday, detectives arrested two people, whom friends of Kunstmann had long suspected of killing her.

“You had about 10,000 people that suspected it was him,” said Sherry Thompson, who was friends with Kunstmann for 14 years, upon being told the names of those arrested. “Oh, my gosh, you gave me the best news.”

On Tuesday, San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators brought Michael Angelo Perez, 37, and Deserae Lenore James, 24, both of Beaumont, to sheriff’s headquarters for questioning. Shortly after midnight, they formally arrested the pair... Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said Kunstmann had been friends with Perez for years, but they did not date.

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A third suspect has been arrested in connection with the cold case killing of a Rancho Cucamonga woman whose body was found in a shallow grave in Yucaipa in 2011.

Virginia Backlund, of Beaumont, was booked into the San Bernardino County Sheriff's West Valley Detention Center Thursday on suspicion of torture and murder in the death of Christine Jo Kunstmann, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

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