Upper Darby man accused of fatally stabbing girlfriend on Lower Providence trail

A Delaware County man who was awaiting trial on charges he assaulted and strangled his girlfriend during a domestic abuse incident in July, allegedly fatally stabbed the young woman during an escalation of violence while they were on a Montgomery County trail last weekend.

Freddy Remigio MendietaPando, 23, of the 200 block of Copley Road in Upper Darby, was arraigned on Friday on charges of first- and third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime in connection with the alleged Sept. 11 fatal stabbing of his former partner, 23-year-old Karina Torres, along a section of the Schuylkill River Trail in Lower Providence, Montgomery County.

“She was stabbed multiple times, hidden in the bushes and overgrowth,” county District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said during a news conference on Friday where he announced the charges against Mendieta-Pando. “This tragic killing of Karina Torres is the worst end result of domestic violence.”

According to court documents and investigators, on July 9, Mendieta-Pando was charged with strangulation, simple assault, terroristic threats and harassment by Upper Darby police after a domestic incident at the Copley Road residence during which he allegedly strangled and punched Torres in the face. At the time, police noted visible injuries to Torres’ face and scratches and red marks on her neck, according to court papers.

Mendieta-Pando was ordered to stand trial on the domestic abuse charges after an Aug. 2 preliminary hearing and he remained free after posting $2,500 bail to await trial, according to court papers.

Investigators said Torres moved out of the Upper Darby residence the couple shared and on July 12 she obtained a temporary protection from abuse order

against Mendieta-Pando. A hearing for a final PFA order had been scheduled for Sept. 16.

“But sadly, the defendant was able to reach her and ultimately killed her,” Steele alleged.

Steele was joined at the news conference by Upper Darby Police Superintendent Timothy M. Bernhardt and Lower Providence Police Chief Michael Jackson.

Bernhardt called the incident “a tragic situation.”

The homicide investigation began at 11:50 a.m. on Thursday, when MendietaPando appeared at Upper Darby police headquarters and confessed to the killing, according to court documents.

Mendieta-Pando, who is Hispanic, used a cellphone translation application during which he spoke in Spanish into his phone and then showed Upper Darby detectives the translation that read, “I killed my partner,” according to a criminal complaint.

Mendieta-Pando continued to use the translation application to relay that he stabbed Torres on the Schuylkill River Trail where he claimed they had gone to discuss the pending domestic violence court case, according to the criminal complaint filed by Montgomery County Detective Heather Long and Lower Providence Detective Michael Nastasi.

“Mendieta-Pando stated that he stabbed Torres in the chest numerous times, threw the knife into the Schuylkill River and concealed Torres’ body under some trees,” Long and Nastasi alleged in the arrest affidavit, adding Mendieta-Pando showed detectives on a map where the alleged fatal altercation occurred.

Upper Darby authorities passed the information along to Montgomery County detectives and Lower Providence police, who searched the Schuylkill River Trail and at 1:25 p.m. Thursday found Torres’ body near the Betzwood Trail Head, lying face down in a wooded area about 15 feet off the trail.

An autopsy on Friday determined that Torres, the mother of a 4-year-old child, died as a result of multiple stab wounds and the manner of death was ruled homicide.

Steele said Torres’ family had been “seeking her and looking for her desperately.”

“They were desperate to find her. This is a really tragic way to find out where she is and what happened to her,” Steele said.

When Mendieta-Pando was interviewed by county detectives he claimed that on Sept. 11 he met Torres in Upper Darby and that he and Torres then drove to an area of the Schuylkill River Trail that he had frequented in the past. Mendieta-Pando allegedly claimed the pair arrived at the trail sometime after 5 p.m.

Mendieta-Pando claimed that while walking on the trail he and Torres argued and at some point she brandished a knife, according to court papers.

“Mendieta-Pando described how he was able to disarm Torres and he then used the knife to stab her repeatedly,” Long and Nastasi alleged in the arrest affidavit. “(MendietaPando) acknowledged that after he disarmed Torres, she was no longer a threat to him, but stabbed her regardless. At one point, Mendieta-Pando held his hand over Torres’ mouth to keep her quiet.”

Mendieta-Pando allegedly described moving the victim’s body off of the trail into a wooded area and throwing the knife and Torres’ phone into the river before leaving the area and driving home to Upper Darby.