Boyfriend to Be Charged With Woman’s Murder

PASADENA — A 37-year-old Pasadena man will be charged with the murder of his girlfriend, who has been missing since Christmas Eve, authorities said.

Hugo Sosa confessed last Thursday to Pasadena detectives that he murdered Martha Camacho, a 32-year-old mother of three, and left her body in a dumpster, said Lt. Keith Jones.

But Jones said it took detectives until Saturday to discover which reclamation facility the dumpster’s contents may have been taken to for incineration.

Police officers searched without luck Sunday through more than 100 tons of trash for Camacho’s body, Jones said.

“We now believe her body was incinerated,” he said. “[Sosa] confessed to the murder and we believe we have more than enough evidence to prosecute him.”

Sosa will be arraigned this week.

Camacho’s family reported her missing on Christmas Day, Jones said.

On Dec. 27, an investigator at the Pasadena law firm where Camacho was a secretary brought Sosa to police after discovering him driving Camacho’s car. Police took Sosa’s statement but did not arrest him until the next day.

Detectives were forced to release Sosa on Dec. 30, Jones said, because they did not have enough evidence to link him to Camacho’s disappearance. On New Year’s Eve, during a meeting with a private investigator, Sosa began to confess to the murder and later provided details to police, Jones said.