Insets, left to right: Keylin Chavez Dominguez and Francisco Lara-Garcia. Background: The eastbound Intercounty Connector in Silver Spring, Maryland, where Chavez Dominguez”s body was found (Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office).
A 33-year-old man faces decades behind bars after being convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend and discarding her body from a Maryland bridge before heading to Philadelphia to celebrate the New Year, later falsely reporting her as missing.
Francisco Lara-Garcia received a life sentence, with all but 40 years suspended, for the killing of 20-year-old Keylin Chavez Dominguez, as announced by the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. In March, Lara-Garcia admitted to the charge of first-degree murder.
The couple’s relationship began in early 2021 while they were still in Honduras and continued after they moved in together in an apartment in Rockville, near Washington, D.C., as stated in a probable cause affidavit. Tensions arose in August 2022 when Chavez Dominguez started seeing someone new, fueling Lara-Garcia’s jealousy, although they continued to cohabitate.
Chavez Dominguez last communicated with her new boyfriend on December 30, 2022, via text, making plans to meet the following day. When she failed to reach out as expected, her boyfriend grew worried and started searching for her, even contacting Lara-Garcia, who claimed ignorance of her whereabouts.
Under pressure from Chavez Dominguez’s family, Lara-Garcia eventually filed a missing person report on January 2, 2023. However, his account to the police was riddled with inconsistencies, suggesting he was not honest about the events surrounding her disappearance, according to police statements.
On January 28, 2023, a dog walker stumbled upon a woman’s body partially hidden by trash bags beneath the eastbound Intercounty Connector between New Hampshire Avenue and Columbia Pike in Silver Spring. It was identified as Chavez Dominguez. The autopsy revealed she had been strangled and beaten to death.
Shortly thereafter, Lara-Garcia began to flee the area, making authorities believe he was trying to leave the country for Honduras. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested him in Missouri on Feb. 1, 2023.
In an interview he gave after receiving his Miranda rights, Lara-Garcia admitted to murdering the victim. He said on the evening of Dec. 30, 2022, the pair were listening to music in their apartment when he wanted to change up the playlist. She refused and he became angry. The defendant punched her in the face.
“He knocked her down to the ground and straddled her, continuing to punch her and hit her head on the floor,” cops wrote. “He then manually strangled her, and when he stopped, she was dead.”
Lara-Garcia stuffed the victim’s body in two trash bags and placed them in the back seat of his car. He drove around looking for a place to dispose of the body and eventually settled on the Intercounty Connector. He threw her body off the bridge and then went to Philadelphia to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
“We thank Montgomery County Police and the United States Marshals Service for their assistance in providing justice for the victim’s family. This defendant lied to police and Chavez Dominguez’s loved ones for nearly a month while they desperately kept hope alive that she may have been found unharmed,” State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in a statement.
