Darwin David Espinal-Del-Cid allegedly posed as Maria Bernarda Popol Garcia in text messages after allegedly killing her, then bought a one-way ticket to Honduras

NEED TO KNOW

A man accused of slashing his girlfriend’s throat after she told him she was leaving him, stuffing her body in a closet and then posing as her in text messages has been captured in Honduras following an international manhunt.

Darwin David Espinal-Del-Cid, 27, was arrested early Monday, Aug. 17, in Pespire, Honduras, during a coordinated operation involving Honduran agents with the Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation and the FBI, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

Espinal-Del-Cid is being held in Tegucigalpa pending extradition to Pennsylvania, where he faces charges of criminal homicide, possession of an instrument of crime, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of his girlfriend, 23-year-old Maria Bernarda Popol Garcia.

Popol Garcia, who had moved to the U.S. from Guatemala and worked as a server at a Latin American restaurant and grocery in Telford, Pa., had been preparing to leave Espinal-Del-Cid in the days before her death, prosecutors said.

On March 6, she told a coworker that she was moving out and began taking her belongings to a new apartment, according to the DA’s office.

Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said at a press conference that Popol Garcia and Espinal-Del-Cid were arguing in a rideshare vehicle shortly before midnight and that she told him she had decided to break up with him. The couple then returned to their shared apartment on North Main Street in Telford, where she planned to gather her belongings, Khan said.

Prosecutors allege Espinal-Del-Cid attacked Popol Garcia with a sharp object and slashed her throat before moving her body into a bedroom closet to conceal the crime.

Neighbors reported hearing a loud argument from the apartment in the early hours of March 7, the last time Popol Garcia was known to be alive, according to the DA’s office.

Espinal-Del-Cid allegedly took Popol Garcia’s Android phone and $400 in cash before fleeing. In the days afterward, prosecutors allege he used her phone to pose as her in text messages, creating the impression that she was still alive while engaging in what the DA’s office described as a series of deceptions intended to conceal her death and secure travel funds.

Financial and flight records showed that Espinal-Del-Cid bought a one-way ticket to Honduras and left the United States on March 9, prosecutors said.

On March 13, after Popol Garcia’s family had gone a week without hearing from her, relatives reported her missing to police in Palisades Park, N.J., according to the DA’s office. They told investigators that she lived with Espinal-Del-Cid in Telford.

Telford Borough police went to the apartment but received no answer. When police returned the following day, they found Popol Garcia’s body wrapped in a blanket, covered with clothing and stuffed inside a bedroom closet, prosecutors said.

An autopsy determined that Popol Garcia died from injuries caused by an edged cutting weapon and that her death was a homicide, according to the DA’s office.

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“The tragic loss of a young woman on the threshold of her adult life is another sobering reminder of the often lethal nature of domestic violence,” Khan said in the release. “Our hearts break for Maria’s family and loved ones.”

“Distance will not offer refuge to those who commit acts of violence in our community,” he added, “and we remain relentless in our pursuit of justice for Maria.”

Friends and coworkers remembered Popol Garcia as a “bright, gentle spirit with a kind heart,” according to the DA’s office.