LOS ANGELES — Officials looking for the husband of a woman found dead last week in California’s Angeles National Forest believe he may have fled to Peru.
Sheylla Cabrera, 33, of Lancaster, north of Los Angeles, was reported missing Aug. 12 to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Deputies found security video of her husband, Jossimar Cabrera, 36, “dragging a large object in a large piece of material” from the apartment complex where they lived with three young sons, the sheriff’s department said Tuesday.
Officials believe foul play was involved in Cabrera’s disappearance, and Jossimar Cabrera has been named a person of interest.
The Mexican and Peruvian consulates were alerted regarding Cabrera, and investigators later learned he had fled the United States. On Saturday, the three Cabrera children were found safe and taken into protective custody in Peru, the sheriff’s department said.
Meanwhile, a search for Cabrera was launched in Angeles National Forest.
On Saturday morning, the Montrose Mountain Search and Rescue team reported spotting “an object similar to the material that was seen being taken away by the person of interest over the side of an embankment” in the forest, the sheriff’s department said.
That material contained Sheylla Cabrera’s body, it said.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the official cause of death.
NBC Los Angeles obtained video that showed a man struggling to carry something large and bulky wrapped in a blanket across the apartment complex.
Neighbors told the station that they had reported Sheylla Cabrera missing and that she had confided in them that her husband was physically abusive.
Neighbors canvassed the apartment complex and found the video mentioned by law enforcement. The video was recorded around 4 a.m. Aug. 10, they said.
“I never had any interaction with the husband. He always seemed, like, mad all the time,” Mario Sanchez told the station.
Sheylla Cabrera’s parents told the station they spoke to their daughter on Aug. 9, when she said she was going to take her children and leave her husband.
News outlet RPP Noticias in Peru spoke to Jossimar Cabrera’s lawyer, who said it was not his client in the video, which he said was edited and was not dated or time-stamped.
The sheriff’s department said it will present a case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to consider filing murder charges against Cabrera and to secure his return to the United States.
The DA’s office said the case will be presented to prosecutors Thursday.
“Jossimar Cabrera is currently believed to be in Peru, pending further investigation needed to bring him to justice,” the sheriff’s department said.
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