Federal immigration authorities said Wednesday that Javier Da Silva Rojas, a 24-year-old man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, is in the U.S. illegally.
Da Silva, a citizen of Portugal, was charged this week with kidnapping resulting in death after the body of 24-year-old Valerie Reyes was found in a suitcase in Connecticut.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Wednesday that Da Silva entered the U.S. in May 2017 through the Visa Waiver Program, which only allows a 90-day stay for business or tourism, the Associated Press reported.
{mosads}Da Silva has been in the U.S. illegally since Aug. 5, 2017, according to ICE. He was arrested after allegedly using Reyes’s ATM card to withdraw cash multiple times after she was killed.
Da Silva told authorities in a videotaped interview that Reyes died after she fell to the floor and hit her head after the couple had sex on Jan. 29. Da Silva will be deported after his criminal case is complete and any sentence is served, though he faces the possibility of the death penalty, according to the AP.
An attorney for Da Silva declined to comment to the AP.
The development in the case came as Reyes was being buried in Rye, New York. Her family and friends were attending her funeral, according to the report.
“We’re devastated, but we’re happy that the person was caught so she gets to go in peace,” Reyes’s cousin told the AP. “It kind of brings us a little more peace, too, to let her go.”