Darwin David Espinal-Del-Cid remains accused of killing Maria Bernarda Popol Garcia before leaving Pennsylvania and fleeing to Central America.

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — A months-long international search for a Bucks County man accused of killing his girlfriend as she prepared to leave their relationship ended with his arrest in Honduras, where authorities took him into custody as Pennsylvania prosecutors sought his return to face homicide and other charges.

Darwin David Espinal-Del-Cid, 27, was arrested Aug. 17 in Pespire, Honduras, during an operation involving Honduran agents and the FBI, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors accuse him of killing Maria Bernarda Popol Garcia in the Telford apartment they had shared, concealing her body and then leaving the United States. He faces charges of criminal homicide, possession of an instrument of crime, theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and abuse of a corpse. The charges are allegations, and Espinal-Del-Cid is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The arrest brought an international dimension to a case that began months earlier in a second-floor apartment on North Main Street in Telford. Investigators say Popol Garcia had begun moving belongings to another apartment on March 6 and had told a co-worker she intended to leave Espinal-Del-Cid. Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said the two argued later that night while riding together. Authorities allege they returned to the apartment so Popol Garcia could collect belongings and that she was killed there during the overnight hours leading into March 7. Neighbors later told investigators they heard a loud argument during that period.

The crime did not immediately come to light. Popol Garcia’s relatives became increasingly worried after they stopped hearing from her. On March 13, family members contacted police in Palisades Park, New Jersey, and reported that she had been out of contact for about a week. They told officers she had been living in Telford with Espinal-Del-Cid. Telford Borough police went to the North Main Street residence but received no answer. Authorities returned as the search for Popol Garcia continued, and her body was eventually discovered concealed inside a bedroom closet, wrapped in a blanket and covered with clothing.

An autopsy determined that Popol Garcia’s death was a homicide caused by an edged cutting weapon, according to Bucks County prosecutors. Authorities allege Espinal-Del-Cid attacked her in the neck before moving her into the closet. The reporting reviewed for this story describes the injuries in more graphic terms, but the essential allegation is that she suffered a fatal sharp-force wound before her body was hidden. Prosecutors also allege Espinal-Del-Cid took her Android phone and about $400 in cash. Investigators have not publicly identified a recovered murder weapon, and Action News reported in August that the weapon had not been found.

Investigators say the phone became part of an alleged effort to make it appear that Popol Garcia was still alive. According to the district attorney’s office, Espinal-Del-Cid sent text messages while posing as her in the days after the killing. Khan has described the messages as an attempt to mislead her family and help Espinal-Del-Cid gain time to leave the country. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that investigators were able to reconstruct some of his movements through cellphone information and other records. Financial and airline records reviewed by authorities showed that he bought a one-way ticket to Honduras and departed the United States on March 9.

By then, prosecutors say, Popol Garcia had already been dead for days. Her relatives continued trying to reach her without knowing that investigators would later accuse Espinal-Del-Cid of using her phone to create the appearance that she could still communicate. The delayed discovery of her body became one of the central facts in the case because it helped explain how the suspect was able to leave the country before authorities knew they were investigating a homicide. Once detectives connected the death to Espinal-Del-Cid and determined that he had gone abroad, the investigation shifted from a local homicide inquiry to an international effort to locate and return him.

The eventual arrest required cooperation among agencies in both countries. Bucks County officials said agents with Honduras’ Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation took Espinal-Del-Cid into custody with FBI assistance. The district attorney’s office also credited the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, Homeland Security Investigations and numerous police departments in Pennsylvania with assisting the broader investigation. Espinal-Del-Cid was arrested in Pespire, in southern Honduras, and then held in Tegucigalpa as the extradition process moved forward.

Honduran reporting provided additional details about that process. La Prensa reported that a first-instance extradition judge ordered Espinal-Del-Cid held provisionally after his arrest and scheduled a Sept. 2 hearing for the presentation of evidence connected with the U.S. extradition request. Lower Bucks Times similarly reported that a Honduran judge ordered him detained while the request from Bucks County proceeded. Publicly available U.S. reporting reviewed through late September did not establish that Espinal-Del-Cid had already been returned to Pennsylvania, and the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office continued to describe the case in terms of pending extradition.

Popol Garcia had come to the United States from Guatemala and worked as a server at a Latin American restaurant and grocery in Telford, prosecutors said. Friends and co-workers described her to authorities as kind and gentle. Her relatives told local news organizations that she had come to the United States to work and support family. The Inquirer reported that family members said she was leaving what they described as an abusive relationship. Prosecutors have cited her attempt to move out as an important part of the sequence leading to the killing, though the precise circumstances of the fatal confrontation remain allegations that would have to be established through the court process.

The timeline reconstructed by investigators places Popol Garcia’s decision to leave at the center of the final hours before she was last known to be alive. She told a co-worker on March 6 that she was moving and began transferring belongings. Later, prosecutors say, she and Espinal-Del-Cid argued while traveling together and returned to the apartment she was leaving. Neighbors heard an argument in the early hours of March 7. Two days later, financial and travel records show Espinal-Del-Cid left for Honduras. Popol Garcia’s family, unaware of what had happened, continued trying to locate her until their missing-person report set in motion the police response that led to the discovery of her body.

For Bucks County investigators, locating Espinal-Del-Cid became the next major task. Khan said after the arrest that leaving the country had not placed the suspect beyond the reach of law enforcement. The prosecutor framed the detention in Honduras as the result of sustained work by local, federal and international authorities rather than a sudden break in the case. His office said the coordinated operation ended an international manhunt that had lasted roughly five months, from Espinal-Del-Cid’s departure in March until his capture in August.

The legal case itself, however, remains at an early stage. An arrest abroad does not resolve the homicide charge, and the prosecution must still prove its allegations in court if Espinal-Del-Cid is returned to Pennsylvania and the case proceeds. The extradition process also operates separately from the eventual criminal proceedings in Bucks County. The publicly available reports reviewed for this article did not identify a Pennsylvania arraignment, preliminary hearing or trial date following the Honduran arrest.

Espinal-Del-Cid’s return to Bucks County had not been publicly confirmed. He was being held in Honduras while authorities pursued extradition on the Pennsylvania charges. Popol Garcia’s death remains classified as a homicide, and prosecutors continue to allege that Espinal-Del-Cid killed her, concealed her body, used her phone to create the appearance that she was alive and fled to Honduras before her family learned she was dead.

Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.