SAN DIEGO -- A busboy suspected of strangling a man he was dating was detained and facing a murder charge Thursday, authorities reported.

Homicide detectives arrested Jorge Luis Munoz of Oak Park at his Dwight Street home on Wednesday, his 24th birthday, according to San Diego police.

Munoz allegedly choked 36-year-old City Heights resident Pedro Ramirez to death early last Thursday morning.

Several of Ramirez's co-workers and his female roommate found his body in his bedroom about 12:30 a.m. Friday while checking on his welfare, concerned over his failure to show up at the Little Italy restaurant where he worked, SDPD Lt. Kevin Rooney said.

Ramirez and Munoz, an employee at another San Diego restaurant, had been romantically involved for at least four months, according to Rooney.

The lieutenant declined to discuss a suspected motive for the slaying, though he did say that the two men had "spent several hours together" prior to Ramirez's death.

Munoz was scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon.