A 33-year-old California woman who was reported missing was found dead in a forest on Aug. 16. Authorities say her husband is the prime suspect and was allegedly caught on video dragging a “large object” from their apartment, where the couple lived with their three children.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, search and rescue teams from Crescenta Valley, Altadena, and Montrose discovered the body of Sheylla Gutierrez over an embankment in Angeles National Forest around 10 a.m. local time. She leaves behind three children.
Gutierrez was pronounced dead at the scene. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine her cause of death.
She had been missing from Lancaster, Calif., since Aug. 12. Investigators believe her husband, 36-year-old Jossimar Cabrera, killed her and then fled to Peru. Their children were located there and placed in protective custody on Aug. 16.
On Aug. 13, while investigating, authorities reviewed surveillance footage that appeared to show Cabrera dragging a large object from the Lancaster Boulevard apartment complex where the family lived, according to ABC7 and NBC Los Angeles.
Gutierrez’s mother, Helga Rocillo, is urging U.S. authorities to help track Cabrera down. “I’m very depressed, but I have to be strong for my grandchildren,” she told ABC 7 from Peru in Spanish. She also told Latina Noticias that her daughter had planned to file a criminal complaint against her husband for alleged psychological and physical abuse.
“She told me that Jossimar Cabrera Cornejo hit her, mistreated her, and even slapped my youngest grandchild, who is 3 years old,” Rocillo said, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Relatives say Cabrera gave conflicting accounts of Gutierrez’s disappearance. Her sister told ABC 7 that Cabrera first claimed immigration authorities had detained her, then later said she left him for another man, and in a third version, insisted she had been in an accident but refused to provide details.
The Peruvian consulate in Los Angeles confirmed Cabrera had arrived in Peru with the couple’s three children, according to Univision 34. However, Peruvian officials could not detain him without an arrest warrant.
Neighbors told NBC Los Angeles that Gutierrez had previously confided in them about her husband’s alleged physical abuse. “I never had any interaction with the husband. He always seemed, like, mad all the time,” neighbor Mario Sanchez said.
Gutierrez’s parents said they last spoke to her on Aug. 9, when she told them she planned to leave Cabrera and take her children.
The case will now be reviewed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to determine whether murder charges will be filed against Cabrera, and to begin the process of “obtaining the necessary documents to secure his return to the United States,” the sheriff’s office said.
