Fairfax police arrest illegal immigrant in alleged stabbing murder of Virginia mother
Salvadoran national Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos has been charged with premeditated murder in the fatal stabbing of Virginia mother Carmen Lizet Puch, according to Fairfax County police. Investigators said the 19-year-old admitted to the killing and had previously been released at the border. Authorities also said Cedillos-Campos and Puch were co-workers who had been involved in an intimate relationship before the deadly attack.
Federal authorities said Tuesday that they arrested an undocumented immigrant accused of strangling a woman to death inside her Massachusetts home.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified the suspect as 43-year-old Flavio Alcantara Dias, a Brazilian national who officials say was living in the United States illegally. ICE said Dias had been released into the country during former President Joe Biden’s administration despite prior arrests for driving under the influence and aggravated assault.
“Alcantara Dias illegally entered the United States in April 2019. In October 2024, an immigration judge granted Alcantara Dias’ motion to terminate his immigration hearings based on a technicality, bringing his immigration case to an end despite his criminal history and unlawful presence in the United States. He was then released into the country by the Biden administration,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
Federal law enforcement officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) conduct a traffic stop and detain people, Nov. 17, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
DHS also pressed local authorities to work with federal immigration officials, arguing that detainers remain the safest method for taking criminal undocumented immigrants into custody. “The safest way to arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our streets is by lodging arrest detainers. 7 of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE. We are urging the Framingham Police Department to participate in a controlled transfer of this criminal illegal alien to get him out of our communities once and for all,” the agency said.
“Our message is clear: if you come into our country illegally and break our laws, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you,” DHS added.
In court, Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Brandt described a 911 call Dias allegedly made after an altercation last week with 33-year-old Brianna Connolly inside her home.
Federal immigration officers wait for respondents to depart from their hearings to conduct targeted detainments at U.S. immigration court in Manhattan, in New York City, Oct. 24, 2025. (David ‘Dee’ Delgado/Reuters)
“He states very clearly, ‘Can I have police? A homicide just happened here right now,’” Brandt told the courtroom, according to Boston 25 News.
“He then states, ‘I ended up killing a woman by mistake.’ He says, ‘I went crazy and suffocated her later on, says that he strangled her,’” Brandt said, noting that Dias had been speaking Portuguese.
Brandt said Dias had told police on the call that he and Connolly had been doing drugs inside her home and got into an argument because he wanted to have sex and she did not.
The Homeland Security logo appears on the screen of a smartphone, and in the background, the flag of the United States is on the computer screen on Dec. 3, 2024. (Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Dias claimed he fell asleep and woke up to find Connolly not breathing. Brandt added that police observed that Connolly had “blood marks on her forehead and also on the back of her head,” in addition to a “fabric-y cord around her neck.”
