Peruvian national charged in murder of missing wife found dead in California

A Peruvian national living in Southern California who was seen dragging what appeared to be a heavy object in a tarp through an apartment complex earlier this month has been charged with murder after his wife’s body was discovered in the Angeles National Forest, KTLA has confirmed.

Sheylla Cabrera, 33, a mother of three, was last seen alive on Aug 9.   

Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to the family’s Lancaster apartment in the 500 Block of Lancaster Boulevard on Aug. 12 after concerned friends and neighbors reported the 33-year-old missing.   

Hours before deputies showed up at the apartment, a neighbor returning home from a nightshift at 2:40 a.m. spotted Cabrera’s husband, 36-year-old Jossimar Cabrera Cornejo, cleaning out the trunk of the family’s car.   

“It was strange,” neighbor Norbelvi Melara told KTLA. “I work those days, and I know there’s nobody around at that time, and cleaning a trunk? I thought it was scary.”   

The investigation took a turn the following day after detectives viewed surveillance footage from a neighbor’s Ring camera from Aug. 10 that appeared to show the victim’s husband dragging a large item wrapped in a tarp away from their apartment, prompting investigators with LASD’s Homicide Bureau to interview Jossimar Cabrera, and identify him as a person of interest in his wife’s disappearance.  

It was later learned that the 36-year-old fled the country and took the couple’s children with him, eventually making his way to Peru where the family is from.  

LASD Lt. Michael Modica told The New York Times that Jossimar Cabrera was detained in both Mexico and Peru after entering the countries by land. In each instance, he was released because he had not yet been charged with a crime.  

The Cabrera’s three children, who were found safe, were taken into protective custody in Peru.

Helga Rocillo, Sheylla Cabrera’s mother, claims her daughter was a victim of domestic violence and that she was abused physically and verbally for years, the Peruvian news outlet Latina Noticias reported.  

Rocillo also said that Cabrera initially told family members that her daughter had been taken by U.S. immigration authorities.  

On Aug. 16, a tip from the Montrose Mountains Search and Rescue team led investigators to a remote area in the Angeles National Forest, about an hour’s drive from the family’s Lancaster apartment, where the 33-year-old woman’s remains were found.  

“That video is consistent with how and what we found [the victim’s] remains in,” LASD Homicide Det. Michael Modica said of the Ring video footage.

Ricardo Santiago, a spokesperson for the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to KTLA on Thursday that Jossimar Cabrera has been charged with one count of murder and that a felony complaint for an extradition arrest warrant was also filed.  

Peruvian authorities are reportedly cooperating with authorities in L.A. County and monitoring Jossimar Cabrera.

Sheylla Cabrera’s exact cause of death is still unclear. Officials with the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office have yet to release an autopsy report.  

If you or anyone you know is suffering from domestic violence, help can be found by calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.