Watch CBS News

Linda Woman Accused Of Killing Husband, Enlisting 2 Friends To Help Bury Body

MARYSVILLE (CBS13) – Monica Rodriguez and her husband were a young couple that didn't seem to have a criminal record.

But, Monica is now locked up in jail for murder – and police say she got her friends to help out.

"They've been together since high school; they were high school sweethearts," Coleena Johnson said.

And that's what makes it so hard for neighbors to believe what police say happened to Monica's husband on this Linda street.

"It's unreal. I went to school with both of them. I knew them when we were kids," Johnson said.

Johnson is friends and neighbors with the 33-year-old Monica who in January called police to report her husband was missing.

"I noticed he wasn't home. I thought maybe they separated, that's the only thing that made sense," Johnson said.

But Johnson and everyone on this street would learn 33-year-old Juan Rodriguez wasn't missing, but dead in a shallow grave eight miles away in Plumas Lake.

Police got a tip that his wife Monica killed him and with the help of two friends, disposed of his body down this road.

"He [turned] around, checked it and that was it," Ramiro Vasquez said.

Vasquez says he saw police looking around the area for something last Friday, but didn't find out until later it was the body of Juan Rodriguez. He has lived here a decade and says nothing like this has ever happened in this quiet walnut orchard.

RELATED: Marysville Woman Fights Off Man Who Tried To Rape Her

After finding the body, police got a warrant to search the home and say they found evidence to back up the tip that this young wife murdered her husband.

Friends say they don't know what happened behind these doors, only that the children caught up in this will never be the same.

"Don't have your mother, don't have your father at this point. I just can't imagine what their family is going through," Johnson said.

There are still many questions in this case, like how did Monica allegedly kill her husband and why. She is being held without bail in Yuba County Jail along with the two friends police say helped her when getting rid of the body.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.