Husband flees to Peru after missing woman found dead in Angeles National Forest, deputies say
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says the body of 33-year-old Sheylla Gutierrez was found in the Angeles National Forest three days ago.
By Anabel Munoz, Michelle Fisher
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LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) — A mother of three was found dead after going missing in Lancaster. The sheriff’s department says her husband has now fled the country.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says the body of 33-year-old Sheylla Gutierrez was found in the Angeles National Forest three days ago.
Gutierrez’s husband — who is suspected of killing her — is believed to be in Peru.
From Peru, Helga Rocillo is calling on U.S. authorities for help to capture the man suspected of killing her daughter. Her family says Gutierrez’s husband gave varying accounts of her whereabouts when she went missing over a week ago.
Gutierrez’s sister says he first said ICE had taken her. Later, he claimed she left with another man. In a third account, he said she’d suffered an accident.
Now in Lancaster, friends and neighbors are seeking answers.
One neighbor shared surveillance video with Eyewitness News. Authorities say the video shows Gutierrez’s husband, 36-year-old Jossimar Cabrera, dragging something large and wrapped in fabric.
Days later, investigators said they found Gutierrez’s body over the side of an embankment in the Angeles National Forest, wrapped in similar material.
“I’m very depressed, but I have to be strong for my grandchildren,” Rocillo said in Spanish.
According to Univision 34, the Peruvian consulate says Cabrera arrived in Peru with the couple’s three children. The consulate said Peruvian authorities could not detain him because there was no warrant for his arrest.
At a vigil in Lancaster, women and neighbors who knew Gutierrez held signs that read “Justice for Sheylla” and “Not one more.” They said a prayer in her memory and called for justice in her name, describing her as an unconditional friend, a loving mother and a hard worker.
“Because she didn’t have family here in the U.S., we are her voice in this moment, and that is what we ask for,” one of her friends said in Spanish.
Gutierrez’s mother says that her daughter reported her husband for domestic violence in Peru, and that the last time they spoke, she told her she would be filing a report against him in Lancaster.
According to Gutierrez’s neighbors, the three children are now with their maternal grandmother. A cause of death has not been determined.
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