Jilted ex-lover killer stuffs former girlfriend in a suitcase, victim may have still been alive: Report

The former boyfriend of a woman who was found dead in a suitcase last year has admitted to killing her and is expected to be sentenced to 30 years in prison.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Valerie Reyes was found dead in Greenwich, Connecticut, on February 5, 2019. Her body had been bound and stuffed into a suitcase that her killer had tossed over a stone wall surrounding a wooded area near Glenville Road.

Javier DaSilva-Rojas, 25, was arrested for Reyes’ murder about a week after her body was found. Initially, DaSilva-Rojas told investigators that Reyes had fallen and hit her head while they were having sex at her White Plains apartment, and he admitted that he bound her at the wrists and ankles and covered her mouth with tape before putting her in a suitcase.

DaSilva-Rojas and Reyes had previously dated, but the murder victim was seeing someone else at the time of her death.

According to the New York Daily News, DaSilva-Rojas pleaded guilty to murdering Reyes by stuffing her in a suitcase after binding her and taping her mouth. The report indicated that Reyes may have been alive when he put her in the suitcase. The cause of death was reportedly homicidal asphyxia.

DaSilva-Rojas will return to court in White Plains in May for a sentencing hearing, when he is expected to be sentenced to at least 30 years in prison.

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