The body of 33-year-old Sheylla Gutierrez was discovered in the Angeles National Forest on August 16, 2025, wrapped in fabric at the bottom of an embankment. Her husband, 36-year-old Jossimar Cabrera, has been charged with murder after fleeing to Peru with their three children.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department took a missing person report for Gutierrez on August 12, 2025. During their investigation the following day, deputies discovered surveillance video showing Cabrera dragging a large object wrapped in fabric from their apartment complex in the 500 block of Lancaster Boulevard, where the family lived with their three sons.
Search and rescue teams from Altadena, Crescenta Valley and Montrose Mountain located Gutierrez’s remains at approximately 10 a.m. on August 16. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the cause of death.
Investigators worked with Mexican and Peruvian consulates to locate Cabrera after determining he had fled the United States. The couple’s three children were found safe in Peru on August 16 and taken into protective custody. Peru’s foreign ministry later repatriated the children back to Los Angeles via Mexico City to be reunited with their mother’s family.
According to family members, Cabrera provided varying accounts of his wife’s whereabouts during her disappearance. Gutierrez’s sister reported that he initially claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement had taken her, later stating she had left with another man, and finally saying she had suffered an accident without providing details.
Helga Rocillo, Gutierrez’s mother, told Peruvian outlet Latina Noticias that her daughter had reported domestic violence against Cabrera in Peru and planned to file another report in Lancaster. Rocillo indicated that Cabrera had physically abused her daughter and struck their youngest grandchild, who is three years old.
Neighbors in Lancaster shared additional details about the couple’s relationship. One neighbor told NBC Los Angeles that Gutierrez had confided that her husband was physically abusive. Another neighbor, Norbelvi Melara, described encountering Cabrera cleaning his truck at 2:30 a.m., hours before the surveillance footage showed him dragging the large object from their apartment.
Cabrera landed at Lima airport in Peru on August 16, the same day his wife’s body was discovered. Peruvian authorities questioned him but released him because no charges had been filed at that time. He was detained twice after leaving the United States, once in Mexico and once in Peru, but was released on both occasions due to the absence of criminal charges.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed murder charges against Cabrera on August 22, 2025. Prosecutors have issued an extradition arrest warrant, and officials are working with Peruvian authorities to secure his return to the United States. “I’m very depressed, but I have to be strong for my grandchildren,” Rocillo stated in Spanish.
Community members in Lancaster held a vigil for Gutierrez outside City Hall, with friends and neighbors carrying signs reading “Justice for Sheylla” and “Not one more.” Attendees described her as an unconditional friend, loving mother and hard worker. Community activist Miguel Coronado addressed Cabrera directly in Spanish, calling him a coward and promising he would be found.
The Peruvian consulate in Los Angeles confirmed that Cabrera arrived in the country with the three children but noted that authorities could not detain him without an arrest warrant. The Peruvian Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations faced criticism for questioning Cabrera at the airport and taking the children into custody while releasing him.
Gutierrez’s parents told NBC News that they last spoke with their daughter on August 9, when she expressed plans to leave her husband and take the children with her. The three children are now staying with their maternal grandmother according to family members.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department continues investigating the case while working to secure Cabrera’s extradition from Peru. Detectives presented their case to the district attorney’s office, resulting in the murder charges and extradition warrant. Cabrera remains at large in Peru as authorities work to bring him back to face charges in the United States.
