A Portuguese man pleaded guilty Wednesday to the killing of his ex-girlfriend, whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Connecticut a year ago.
Police in Greenwich, Connecticut, said Javier Da Silva Rojas pleaded guilty in federal court in White Plains, New York, to kidnapping resulting in death.
Officials said he is expected to be sentenced on May 21 to at least 30 years in prison.
The body of 24-year-old Valerie Reyes, of New Rochelle, New York, was found in a suitcase in nearby Greenwich in February 2019. A medical examiner said she died of homicidal asphyxia.
Police found the body of Valerie Reyes, 24, of New Rochelle, New York, stuffed in a suitcase that was dumped on the side of a Connecticut road in February 2019
Javier Enrique Da Silva Rojas (left), Reyes’ (right) ex-boyfriend, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the killing after being charged with kidnapping resulting in death
Law enforcement agencies tweeted out their thanks to the FBI and local police
Da Silva, 25, who authorities say was in the country illegally and was living in New York City at the time, told investigators that Reyes fell to the floor and hit her head after they had sex at her home a week before her body was found, federal authorities said.
He told investigators that he put packing tape over her mouth, bound her legs and hands, and put her in a suitcase that he dropped in a wooded area after driving for some time. She died from a lack of oxygen.
The medical examiner did not say whether she died before she was put in the suitcase.
Reyes worked at a bookstore and aspired to become a tattoo artist, co-workers and friends said.
Rojas admitted to binding her hands and feet, putting packing tape over her mouth, forcing her body into a case and abandoning it on the side of a road in Greenwich, Connecticut
Reyes’ friends and family gathered at her funeral in Rye, New York last February
Her cousin, Desiree Rodriguez, described her as ‘just silly and just a free soul, beautiful soul.’
Da Silva entered the U.S. on May 8, 2017, through the Visa Waiver Program and was required to leave by August 5, 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
The program allows citizens from 38 countries to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa.
Immigration officials said Da Silva would be deported immediately after serving his sentence.
The reddish-orange suitcase containing Reyes’ body was discovered by highway workers in Greenwich one week after the 24-year-old was last seen
The suitcase with Reyes’ body had been dumped in a wooded area (above) about 15 feet from Glenville Road in Greenwich, Connecticut
Glenville Road runs through a quiet and somewhat isolated area of Glenville, a wealthy suburb of Greenwich with a population of just over 2,200 people
‘We are gratified to learn that justice was served in this case,’ New Rochelle Police Commissioner Joseph Schaller said. ‘Our compliments to all of the law enforcement agencies and prosecutor’s involved in the investigation.’
Greenwich police said a lengthy, multi-agency investigation saw the examination of multiple crime scenes, hundreds of hours of surveillance footage and interviews with numerous potential witnesses as well as social media footprints and records ‘from a variety of sources.’
‘Although justice has been served, we remain saddened by the loss of Valerie and sincerely hope that her family will find peace and a sense of closure to this tragedy,’ the Greenwich police said in a statement.
Messages seeking comment were left with Da Silva’s public defenders Wednesday.
Reyes had reportedly dumped her boyfriend Rojas a week before she went missing