A 33-year-old man faces a lengthy prison term after being convicted of murdering his former girlfriend, whose body he discarded from a Maryland bridge before traveling to Philadelphia to celebrate the New Year. He later reported her missing.

Francisco Lara-Garcia received a life sentence, with all but 40 years suspended, for the murder of 20-year-old Keylin Chavez Dominguez, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. In March, Lara-Garcia admitted to the crime by pleading guilty to first-degree murder.

The couple’s relationship began in early 2021 while they were living in Honduras, and they continued to reside together in Rockville, a suburb of Washington, D.C., as detailed in a probable cause affidavit. Tensions arose when Chavez Dominguez started seeing someone else in August 2022, which fueled Lara-Garcia’s jealousy, although they continued cohabitating.

Chavez Dominguez was last in contact on December 30, 2022, when she texted her new boyfriend. She had plans to meet him the following day, and his concern grew when she failed to reach out. He attempted to locate her by contacting Lara-Garcia, who denied knowing her whereabouts.

Prompted by her family’s concerns, Lara-Garcia reported her missing on January 2, 2023. However, inconsistencies in his statements to the police raised suspicions about his truthfulness regarding the circumstances of her disappearance, authorities noted.

On Jan. 28, 2023, a man walking his dog under the eastbound Intercounty Connector between New Hampshire Avenue and Columbia Pike in Silver Spring discovered a woman’s body that was partially concealed by trash bags. It was Chavez Dominguez. An autopsy determined she had been strangled to death and beaten.

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.