Investigators are looking for an active duty Navy reservist after finding his wife dead in their kitchen’s freezer.
David Varela, 38, has not shown up for work at Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown or answered calls from his supervisor since Lina Guerra, 39, was reported missing on February 2, the Virginian Pilot reports.
Guerra’s brother reported her missing, saying he hadn’t heard from her for more than two weeks, according to an affidavit charging Valera with murder. Detectives executed a search warrant on the home on February 5 and found Guerra dead in a kitchen freezer. Her cell phone was inside the home and Varela’s Tesla was parked outside.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her death a homicide, and Valera was charged with first degree murder and concealment of a body.
Police investigators have since worked with federal agents, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, to file international warrants for Valera’s arrest.
Homeland Security Investigations found that Valera took flight to Hong Kong “on or about Feb. 5, 2026,” although they said he “does not have any discernible ties to Hong Kong or China,” WAVY reported.
WAVY spoke with Guerra’s family in her native Colombia, where an aunt said that Valera had been violent with her niece in the past.
Other family members told WTKR that Valera told them they hadn’t heard from Guerra because she was in jail, arrested for shoplifting. He even sent a picture of them together, saying he was visiting her in jail. She appeared to be wearing an orange jumpsuit, they said, and Valera told them he couldn’t stop crying and hadn’t eaten because he was so upset about his wife being in jail.
Court records, however, show no arrests, charges, or convictions for Guerra.
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[Featured image: Lina Guerra/Norfolk Police Department and David Guerra/family]