A Navy reservist from Virginia — accused of murdering his wife after her body was found in their freezer — was arrested in Hong Kong, ending a two-month-long international manhunt, authorities said Wednesday.
David Varela, 38, will face a first-degree murder charge following this "successful overseas apprehension," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
Varela was apprehended late Tuesday in the former British colony and taken to San Francisco on Wednesday, where he's expected to appear before a judge on Thursday afternoon, Virginia officials said.
Varela "has been on the run for over two months attempting to avoid prosecution for these heinous crimes, but justice doesn’t forget," Patel added.
Lina M. Guerra, 39, was reported missing in early February by her brother after he couldn't reach her for more than two weeks, FBI Special Agent Connor Patrick Maguire wrote in an affidavit supporting Varela's arrest on a federal charge of alleged unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The suspect didn't return calls from his Navy superiors and a search of the couple's home led to detectives finding Guerra "deceased in the kitchen freezer," Maguire wrote.
The Norfolk medical examiner ruled her death to be a homicide.
Varela flew to Hong Kong around Feb. 5 and WhatsApp data soon showed he was in the special administrative region of China, the FBI agent said.
It's not clear why Varela allegedly fled to the Chinese-controlled city as his family is from Colombia and they do "not have any discernible ties to Hong Kong or China," according to the affidavit.
Even though investigators were confident they could find Varela in Hong Kong, his ultimate apprehension came as a relief to Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi.
"I was always hopeful that that the long arm of the law would ultimately reach Mr. Varela and allow us to secure justice for Lina Guerra and her family," the prosecutor Fatehi told NBC News on Thursday.
"But I've learned that there is no such thing certainty in our business."
Before her body was found, Guerra was the subject of a "critical missing adult alert" by Virginia State Police.
The 4-foot-9, 100-pound woman's "disappearance poses a credible threat to their health and safety as determined by the investigating agency," Virginia police said at the time.
