‘I hope Valerie finds the justice she deserves’
Reyes family mourns as judge sentences her killer to 30 years
WHITE PLAINS — Before he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, Javier Da Silva heard the words of the mother whose daughter he killed and later dumped on a wooded road in Greenwich. She called her daughter’s killer “a worthless soul.”
“A mother can never prepare to face a terrible day like this,” Norma Sanchez, the mother of 24-yearold Valerie Reyes, told Judge Vincent Bricetti in a White Plains, N.Y., federal courtroom before the 30year sentence was imposed Thursday.
Da Silva pleaded guilty in 2020 in the killing of Valerie Reyes, a bookstore worker and aspiring artist.
He admitted he went to her apartment in New Rochelle, N.Y., in January 2019 and engaged in a violent confrontation that resulted in her death. The two had dated for several months the year before. Federal prosecutors say Da Silva killed Reyes by placing her in a suitcase bound in packing tape and twine. She died by asphyxiation.
Reyes’ body was found by DPW workers in Greenwich who spotted the suitcase off the side of lower Glenville Road. She had been reported missing by her family in the days before.
Sanchez, supported by her son, Sal, as she addressed the judge, said her daughter was a vibrant and loving woman who was adored by her three brothers.
“My boys are all heartbroken and devastated . ... My boys struggle to accept she is no longer here,” Sanchez said. She told the judge how she would call out her daughter’s name repeatedly while in the depths of despair following her killing.
Turning to address Da Silva, who was wearing a khaki prison outfit, and sobbing quietly, Sanchez called him “a selfish, greedy soulless person.”
Speaking to Da Silva, she said, “I want you to hear the words of a mother who you devastated by taking away my baby girl.” Her voice breaking with emotion,
she said he went to Reyes’ apartment “like an evil flood, surprising her in her peaceful place.”
“You deserve nothing but pain and rejection,” she said. “Today, I hope Valerie finds the justice she deserves.”
Da Silva, an immigrant from Venezuela who was living in Queens, N.Y., and working at a restaurant in Queens at the time of the killing, addressed the judge before his sentencing, speaking in Spanish translated into English by an interpreter.
“My words can never express how repulsed I am by the acts I committed,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “My acts caused Valerie’s death, and I can
never forgive myself for doing that . ... It’s my fault that she’s not here any longer. Valerie’s family deserves to know I’m sorry . ... I implore before God, on my knees, that God will bless them and remove some of their pain.”
Briccetti referenced the reports from Da Silva’s defense lawyers that Da Silva was remorseful about the killing, as well as many letters written by his friends and family members who called him a decent and respectful person, but the judge rebuffed calls for a more lenient sentence.
“Look at me,” Briccetti told the defendant. “What you did to this woman was sickening . ... Anyone who could do such a thing is not a good person, by definition. Anyone who can do a thing like that is an evil person. Justice requires an evil deed be punished by a lengthy prison sentence.”
The judge highlighted the cruelty of the killing, as well as how Da
Silva profited from her death, stealing money from her bank account and trading one of her electronic devices for computer equipment.
After Da Silva wrapped her face in packing tape, he placed her in a suitcase, leading to her death by asphyxiation. He later withdrew thousands of dollars from her bank account and sold her electronic equipment. He drove to Greenwich and dumped the body on Glenville Road, according to his guilty plea. Da Silva took over $3,000 from her bank account, using her debit card in New Rochelle and New York City.
The judge noted that while Da Silva’s family, who were listening to the court proceedings on an audio feed, could visit him in prison, Reyes’ family would never see her again. “You have to live with what you did,” the judge said.
Da Silva was arrested at his Queens, N.Y., apartment on Feb. 12, 2019, with Greenwich police participating in his apprehension. He pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping resulting in death in U.S. District Court in New York on Feb. 5, 2020.
Two Greenwich police detectives attended the sentencing Thursday, along with law-enforcement officers from other agencies that worked on the case.
Family members, who were wearing pictures of Valerie Reyes on a button on their clothes, declined comment outside the courtroom.
Reyes had recently returned from a trip to Alaska shortly before her killing, her mother told the judge, highlighting her daughter’s love of life. She said she was honing her artistic skills in hopes of becoming a tattoo artist. She called her daughter “someone who changed lives, a loving compassionate and selfless young woman.” Sanchez also called attention to what she believed was Da Silva’s deceitful nature — he told Reyes his own mother was dying of cancer in Venezuela to elicit sympathy and keep their relationship going. His mother was not dying of cancer at all, Sanchez said.
Reyes and Da Silva met on an online dating platform and spent a few months together, according to court documents, and Reyes later refused to speak or communicate with him.
The federal prison system does not grant early parole, so the 30-year sentence will not be reduced. After his sentence ends, Da Silva will be turned over to immigration authorities and likely be subject to deportation because he is in the country on an expired visa.