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 deadly 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 coworkers who had been involved in an intimate relationship before the fatal attack.
In a separate case, federal officials said Tuesday they arrested an undocumented immigrant accused of strangling a woman to death inside her home in Massachusetts.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified the suspect as Flavio Alcantara Dias, 43, a Brazilian national who officials say was living in the United States unlawfully. ICE said Alcantara Dias had been released into the country during former President Joe Biden’s administration despite earlier arrests involving DUI 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 and Enforcement and Removal Operations conduct a traffic stop and detain people on Nov. 17, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
“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 statement continued.
“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.
Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Brandt recounted a 911 call Dias made after an altercation with the 33-year-old Brianna Connolly in her home last week.
MORE STORY: House Censures Chuck Edwards Over Conduct Toward Female Staffers
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.”