Chatham Township NJ Murder
A man has been charged with the murder of his wife after her body was discovered in a vacant home in Chatham Township, NJ.
The body of 32-year-old Elizabeth, NJ resident Karla Villagra-Garzon was found inside an empty home on Southern Boulevard in Chatham Township. She had gone missing three weeks earlier.
The Union County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and determined that the cause of Villagra-Garzon’s death was asphyxiation. It is also believed that blunt-force trauma contributed to her death.
Investigators almost immediately suspected that Villagra-Garzon’s husband, 39-year-old Ayayuba Rivas, had some involvement in her death. A joint investigation by the Elizabeth Police Department, the Union County Homicide Task Force, and the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit identified Rivas as the main suspect. Villagra-Garzon was the mother of a two-year-old child with Rivas.
Shortly after the results of the autopsy were revealed, Rivas was formally charged in his wife’s murder. Rivas was already in custody on charges of hindering apprehension and endangering the welfare of a child.
After being charged with murder, Villagra-Garzon was held at the Union County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail.
Union County authorities have asked that anyone with information about the case get in touch with them at 908-965-3807.
To learn more about this case, access the NJ.com article entitled “Missing Elizabeth Mom Is Found Dead, Husband Charged with Murder.”
