Six days before a California woman’s body was found in a national forest near Los Angeles, a security camera captured her husband dragging away a large object that appeared to be wrapped in a tarp from their apartment complex during the night, the authorities said.
The footage, from a neighbor’s doorbell camera, is part of a homicide investigation into the death of Sheylla Cabrera, 33, whose remains were found on Aug. 16 in Angeles National Forest — four days after a friend reported her missing.
On Thursday, her husband, Jossimar Cabrera, 36, who investigators believe fled to Peru after his wife’s death, was charged with one count of murder, said Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors also filed an extradition arrest warrant for Mr. Cabrera.
The Cabreras, whose home is in Lancaster, Calif., about an hour’s drive from where her body was found, are citizens of Peru, where Mr. Cabrera took their three children after his wife’s death, the authorities said.
Mr. Cabrera was briefly detained both in Mexico and Peru after crossing the border by land, Lt. Michael Modica, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said on Thursday. But as he had not been charged, he was released, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
“The Peruvian authorities are being cooperative with us,” Lieutenant Modica said. “They are monitoring him.”
The Peruvian consulates in Los Angeles and New York did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
Ms. Cabrera’s mother, Helga Rocillo, told the Peruvian news outlet Latina Noticias that her daughter had been physically abused by her husband, who initially told family members that Ms. Cabrera had been taken away by U.S. immigration authorities.
It was not immediately clear if Mr. Cabrera had a lawyer.
On Aug. 13, a neighbor provided investigators with the Ring camera footage, which was taken on the night of Aug. 10 at the apartment complex where the couple lived.
Lancaster is in northern Los Angeles County and is north of the Angeles National Forest.
As of Thursday, Mr. Cabrera was still being pursued by U.S. authorities, who said that they were seeking to have him extradited from Peru. The couple’s three sons are in protective custody in Peru, where they were found safe on Aug. 16, the same day that Ms. Cabrera’s body was recovered from the forest.
The specific cause of Ms. Cabrera’s death was not yet clear. Autopsy results were pending on Thursday, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office, which said it was in the process of formally identifying her and notifying her next of kin.
On Aug. 12, the day that the friend filed a missing persons report, investigators interviewed Mr. Cabrera, who quickly emerged as a person of interest in his wife’s disappearance, Lieutenant Modica said.
Search and rescue teams then began combing large sections of the Angeles National Forest, which covers more than 650,000 acres northeast of downtown Los Angeles and where the terrain ranges in elevation from 1,200 feet to 10,064 feet. Ms. Cabrera’s body was found about 10 a.m. on Aug. 16.
Hannah Ziegler contributed reporting.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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