Suitcase slay bust
Ex-beau dumped beauty: cops
A former lover of the woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase off a Connecticut road last week was charged Tuesday with murder — but he claimed she hit her head during sex.
Javier Da Silva was busted late Monday by cops from Greenwich, Conn., and New Rochelle, who tracked him to his Queens home after he was caught on surveillance video using Valerie Reyes’s ATM card to withdraw about $1,000 on Jan. 30, according to a criminal complaint.
Da Silva claimed to cops that the day before the withdrawal, he and Reyes, both 24, had sex inside her New Rochelle home, despite the woman’s family telling cops that she hadn’t been seeing Da Silva for about a year, court papers state.
Da Silva claimed that Reyes fell on the floor and cracked her head, according to the complaint.
Da Silva admits he reacted by wrapping the woman’s mouth with packing tape, binding her legs and hands together and forcing her body into a red suitcase, according to the complaint.
He also copped to loading the baggage into his car, driving over the New York border to the ritzy town of Greenwich and dumping it in a wooded area off of Glenville Road, where the grim discovery was made by a highway worker on Feb. 5, the complaint said.
Because the crime crossed state lines, Da Silva was arraigned Tuesday in White Plains federal court on a single count of kidnapping resulting in death.
In the brief appearance, a handcuffed Da Silva, sporting dark, shoulder-length hair and a full beard, said little before he was ordered held without bail.
Da Silva did not enter a plea, but made one thing crystal-clear: He didn’t want strife-stricken Venezuela finding out about his legal troubles.
“Not Venezuela, Portugal,” Da Silva said, when asked whether he wanted the consulates of the two nations in which he holds dual-citizenship to be notified of his arrest.
Da Silva had been living in Queens illegally for some time after his visa lapsed, WCBS/Channel 2 reported, citing sources.
The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement couldn’t immediately confirm Da Silva’s status but said it was looking into it.
“Now that we are aware of him, we will take steps needed to confirm his alienage and issue a detainer as needed,” an ICE official said.
Word of Da Silva’s arrest came as Reyes’s heartbroken family gathered Tuesday in New Rochelle for her wake — and steeled themselves for her Wednesday funeral.
“It’s a blessing they caught him so quick,” said Norma Sanchez, the mom of the slain bookstore worker. “Today is justice for Val.”
“The detectives told us they’re . . . hoping he gets life in prison,” Sanchez, 45, added. “And that’s what we want. We want to see him rot in there.”