A missing California woman was found dead in a national forest, and her husband has reportedly fled to South America with their children.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has charged 36-year-old Jossimar Cabrera with the murder of 33-year-old mother of three, Sheylla Cabrera. After Sheylla’s disappearance, Cabrera allegedly fled to his homeland, Peru, and it remains uncertain whether he is currently in custody, according to a report by KNBC.
Sheylla Cabrera was last seen on August 9, and her friends reported her missing three days later, as noted by KTLA. Shortly after the missing person’s report, investigators found surveillance footage capturing her husband moving a large, fabric-wrapped item from their apartment. A neighbor also witnessed him cleaning the family car’s trunk at 2:30 a.m.
Following the discovery of Sheylla Cabrera’s body in the Angeles National Forest, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department identified her husband as a person of interest in the case.
Authorities were led to the body on August 16 by a tip, with homicide Detective Michael Modica confirming the condition of the body aligned with the video evidence of the husband dragging an item from the apartment.
“That video is consistent with how and what we found [the victim’s] remains in,” Modica told KTLA.
Friends revealed that Sheylla Cabrera endured years of domestic abuse but was afraid to leave due to her husband’s threats concerning their children. They mentioned she was planning to leave when she went missing.
“She was just too scared because he would always threaten to leave with the kids, so I think that was her fear,” commented Elizabeth Rousseau, a friend. “If she did anything, he was going to kidnap the kids.”
Jossimar Cabrera initially fled to Mexico, KABC said, and then flew to Lima on Saturday.
Sheylla Cabrera’s family — including her mother in Peru — are calling on US authorities to step up and get the husband into custody. The family says that he gave them multiple stories about her whereabouts after the disappearance, first saying federal immigration authorities had taken her, then saying she left with another man. In a third story, he told the family she’d been in an accident.
KTLA said that he was briefly taken into custody in Peru, and the children placed in protective custody. He was released, however, because there have been no formal charges filed against him. It’s not clear if the children were returned to him.
