The ex-husband of an Oxnard woman killed on July 10, 2021 has been accused of killing her and dumping her body near Gaviota in Santa Barbara County.
Josefino Cayetano Maldonado has been charged with the murder of Eudelia Gonzalez Rojas, 46, whose body was found on an embankment north of the Gaviota Tunnel on Hwy. 101 in Santa Barbara County.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team helped recover the body of Ms. Rojas on July 16, 2021.
Maldonado has been in the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility for Rojas’ murder with no bail.
According to police, Maldonado confessed to killing Rojas after Oxnard detectives served a search warrant at his home in Salinas. Police stated that he said he killed his ex-wife in Ventura County, near Hueneme Rd and Las Posas Rd., not in Oxnard, but disposed of her body in Santa Barbara County, police said.
Rojas was last seen by family members getting into a vehicle with an unknown person at about 8:30 p.m. July 10, 2021 and driving away from her residence on the 4500 block of Terrace Avenue.
When she didn’t return home on Saturday night and did not answer phone calls, family members became concerned and reported her missing to the Oxnard Police Department on Sunday night, July 11. Police stated that Maldonado killed her ex-wife by hitting her on the head with a rock because apparently, she didn’t want to comeback with him and instead chose another man over him.
OPD investigators are asking anyone with information about the murder to phone Detective Chip Buttell at (805) 385-7688 or Detective Michael McManama at (805) 385-7662.