Released by Greenwich Police Dept.(GREENWICH, Conn.) — An ex-boyfriend has been arrested in connection to the death of 24-year-old Valerie Reyes, whose body was discovered bound in a suitcase on the side of the road, according to police.
Javier de Silva, 24, was interviewed and allegedly “admitted a role” in Reyes’ death, Greenwich Police Capt. Robert Berry said Tuesday.
He also allegedly used Reyes’ ATM card after she was killed, Berry said, noting that investigators “saw continued ATM activity and that’s what zeroed us in.”
De Silva, a Venezuelan national, was arrested Monday night in Queens, New York, according to police. He is charged with kidnapping resulting in death.
He is the only suspect identified as this time, though the investigation is ongoing, Berry told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
He appeared briefly Tuesday before a federal magistrate in White Plains who ordered him held on no bail. He was not required to enter a plea.
De Silva has not been admitted for permanent residence but his legal status was not immediately clear, according to an immigration official.
Reyes, of New Rochelle, New York, was found dead on Feb. 5 inside a suitcase along a Greenwich, Connecticut, road with her hands and feet bound, authorities said.
Autopsy results are pending, Berry said.
Reyes was last seen on Jan. 29 and was later reported missing to the New Rochelle Police, officials said.
Greenwich sits along the New York-Connecticut state border. New Rochelle is about 12 miles south of Greenwich.
Reyes’ mother, Norma Sanchez, told ABC New York station WABC-TV last week that her daughter had broken up with her boyfriend days before she disappeared. Police did not confirm that this was the same ex-boyfriend.
In their last conversation with each other, Sanchez said that Reyes told her she had feared for her life and that she thought someone was going to murder her, she told WABC. When Sanchez asked Reyes if someone had threatened her — and asked about her ex — Reyes said “no,” Sanchez told WABC.
“They released his name — my heart dropped,” Sanchez told WABC Tuesday after the arrest. “Emotions of so much anger and hate, but relieved.”
Sanchez said the two dated for roughly eight months.
Greenwich Police ask anyone with information about Reyes or her disappearance to call the Greenwich Police Tip Line at (203) 622-3333 or email at Tips@greenwichct.org.
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