Woman, her two children found dead in Chula Vista townhome had been strangled, police say

A woman and her two children found dead Wednesday morning in a Chula Vista townhome had been strangled, police said Thursday.

Police believe the deaths of Mary Alvarez, 41, and her daughter Angelica, 12, and her son Hamid, 11, were part of a murder-suicide plot by Alvarez's ex-boyfriend who had lived in the townhome. Alvarez and her daughter showed signs of being beaten.

Alvarez's ex-boyfriend, whose name has not been released, was found dead several hours earlier, after apparently jumping off a freeway bridge into a ravine, police said. He was not the children's father.

RELATED:

Four dead in possible murder-suicide in Chula Vista, authorities say

-- Tony Perry in San Diego