Missing Woman Found Killed in Vacant Chatham Home

An Elizabeth woman who went missing last month was found dead Tuesday in a vacant Chatham Township home, the Union County Prosecutor's Office said.

The body of Karla Jose Villagra Garzon, 32, was found by police late Tuesday night in a vacant Southern Boulevard home. An autopsy conducted Wednesday revealed she died from asphyxiation and blunt-force trauma, the prosecutor's office said.

Her husband, Abayuba Rivas, 39, of Elizabeth, has been charged with first-degree murder and other offenses related to her death, the prosecutor's office said. Bail has been set at $2 million.

Rivas reported his wife missing the morning after she disappeared on the night of Feb. 23, the prosecutor's office said. Garzon, a mother of a 2-year-old child, left the couple's East Jersey Street home in Elizabeth to walk to a nearby pharmacy and never returned, according to the prosecutor's office.

The Elizabeth Police, Union County Homicide Task Force and the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit conducted an investigation into her disappearance that led to Rivas as a prime suspect, the prosecutor's office said.

The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information can contact Union County Prosecutor's Office Detective Danika Ramos at 908-965-3807.