A New Jersey man accused of killing his wife weeks after he reported her missing pleaded not guilty in court on Monday, the Star Ledger reported.
Prosecutors claim Abayuba Rivas, 39, murdered Karla Jose Villagra-Garzon, 32, with a blunt object -- possibly a meat mallet, which he allegedly used to beat her. An autopsy concluded Garzon died from asphyxiation accompanied by blunt force trauma.
According to the complaint filed in Superior Court, Rivas killed Villagra-Garzon on either Feb. 23 or 24. Authorities arrested Rivas partly based on a sworn statement he gave to investigators, the Star Ledger said.
Rivas told police on Feb. 23 that Villagra-Garzon left the house to walk to a pharmacy to get medicine for their 2-year-old daughter and never returned. On March 18, police found his wife's body in an abandoned house.
Neighbors told NBC News that they were always suspicious of Rivas' story.
"They've got two cars. How's she going to walk away that late at night?" said Diana Giraldo.
Carlos Rosario, who told the Ledger he was the godfather of Rivas' daughter, said Rivas is from Uruguay and has been in the U.S. for 15 years. He also said he was friends with both Rivas as Villagra-Garzon.
"I really don't now what happened. I don't know what's going on," he said.
It is unknown what led authorities to investigate the abandoned house where Villagra-Garzon was found.However, Anne Carbone, who owns the vacant house, said authorities told her Rivas broke into the house sometime in February and either killed his wife there or brought her there after killing her. A law enforcement official who is not authoritzed to speak about the investigation confirmed Carbone's account to the Ledger.
Rivas is being held in jail on $2,250,000 bail.
