The body of 33-year-old Sheylla Gutierrez was discovered in the Angeles National Forest on August 16, 2025, four days after she was reported missing from her Lancaster, California home.
Her husband, 36-year-old Jossimar Cabrera, has been charged with murder and had fled to Peru with their three children.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department took a missing person report for Gutierrez on August 12. During their follow-up investigation on August 13, deputies discovered surveillance video footage showing Cabrera dragging a large object wrapped in fabric from the apartment complex in the 500 block of Lancaster Boulevard where the family lived.
Search and rescue teams from Altadena, Crescenta Valley and Montrose Mountain began searching parts of the Angeles National Forest based on the surveillance evidence. At approximately 10 a.m. on August 16, the Montrose Mountain Search and Rescue Team contacted deputies after discovering an object similar to what Cabrera was seen dragging in the surveillance footage over the side of an embankment in the forest.
Gutierrez’s body was found wrapped in material that appeared similar to what was seen in the video footage. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating to determine the cause of death.
Investigators worked with the Mexican General Consulate and the Peruvian General Consulate to locate Cabrera, who had already fled the United States. The couple’s three children were found safe and taken into protective custody in Peru on August 16. According to the Peruvian consulate, Cabrera arrived in Peru with the children but could not be detained because no warrant for his arrest existed at that time.
Cabrera was briefly detained twice after leaving the country – once in Mexico and once in Peru – but was released both times because he had not yet been charged with a crime. He landed at the airport in Lima, Peru last Saturday after flying in from Mexico and was questioned by Peruvian National Police before his wife’s body was discovered.
Family members reported that Cabrera gave conflicting accounts of Gutierrez’s whereabouts during her disappearance. Gutierrez’s sister stated that he first claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement had taken her, later said she left with another man, and in a third account, claimed she had suffered an accident without providing details.
Gutierrez’s mother, Helga Rocillo, told media outlets from Peru that her daughter had reported Cabrera for domestic violence previously and planned to file another report in Lancaster. Rocillo stated, “She told me that Jossimar Cabrera Cornejo hit her, mistreated her, and even slapped my youngest grandchild, who is 3 years old.”
According to family members, Rocillo spoke with her daughter during a video call on August 9, when Gutierrez indicated she was going to take her children and leave her husband. During their last conversation, Gutierrez told her mother she would be filing a report against Cabrera.
Neighbors in Lancaster reported concerning behavior from Cabrera. One neighbor, Mario Sanchez, told the media that he never had interaction with the husband, who always seemed angry. Another neighbor, Norbelvi Melara, encountered Cabrera cleaning his truck at 2:30 a.m., hours before the doorbell camera captured him dragging the large object from their apartment.
On August 22, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed murder charges against Cabrera. Prosecutors have issued an extradition arrest warrant, and a court date is expected to be scheduled. The district attorney’s office is working to have Cabrera extradited back to the United States to face the charges.
The couple’s three children have been repatriated to Los Angeles via Mexico City and are now with their maternal grandmother, according to Peru’s foreign ministry. The children were initially taken into protective custody by Peruvian authorities when they arrived in the country with their father.
Friends and community members held a vigil for Gutierrez outside Lancaster City Hall, where they displayed signs reading “Justice for Sheylla” and “Not one more.” Community members described her as an unconditional friend, loving mother, and hard worker.
The investigation revealed that the couple had immigrated to the United States from Peru in 2023 seeking a better life. Cabrera remains at large in Peru, and authorities continue working on the extradition process to bring him back to face murder charges in Los Angeles County.
