The Harrowing Case of Valerie Reyes

there is nothing more terrifying than being fearful of your own death and valerie reyes was a young woman who expressed these very concerns to her own mother it appears that these feelings were actually a morbid premonition which would occur only several hours later how did valerie know that she was going to die or were these terrible thoughts simply out of dark coincidence good morning good afternoon or good evening my name is adrian and welcome back to another video by coffee house crime today we're looking at the tragic case of valerie reyes and just to let you know but i post solved unsolved and strange cases here on a weekly basis so if you're interested please consider subscribing to coffee house crime before we continue i wanted to thank scentbird for sponsoring today's video in the very same way that netflix lets you watch hundreds of video titles scentbird lets you try out hundreds of different perfumes and colognes for only 17 a month they work directly with big name brands 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small enough to take with you in a bag or even in your pocket so if you're interested use my coupon code to see crime55 to get 55 off your first month at sandberg that's just seven dollars for your first month centre boat is currently available in the us and canada now with that said let's begin today's video grab a coffee pull up a seat and sit back this is the case of valerie reyes new york you seem to be appearing in a lot of my videos in the recent weeks welcome to new rochelle folks found in the southern corner of the state of new york new rochelle is a city of roughly 80 000 residents the city was initially established by french refugees in 1688 predominantly from la rochelle in france a lot has changed since then as nowadays new rochelle is an important centre for business outside of the big apple pressing ahead with our story we find ourselves visiting the home of valerie reyes born on april 9 1994 her mother norma and father sal brought her into what would be a close and tight-knit family valerie was the oldest of four children and from childhood right through to adulthood she held a close relationship with her siblings by the year of 2019 valerie was 24 years old and standing at five feet and three inches she had black hair brown eyes and a half sleeve tattoo on her left arm she worked as a store clerk at the barnes noble store nearby at the verning hills shopping center and working here for nearly three years many people in the area knew her working at a bookstore valerie was actually an artist at heart she aspired to become a tattooist and was very excited about her goals and future described as a gentle person who would always stop and talk to the neighborhood children valerie was nurturing and generally open-minded there was however a fragile side to valerie too and like i think most of us do she sometimes struggled from anxiety and at times depression it was nothing too serious but persistent enough to sometimes bring disruption to her life on january the 28th valerie's mother norma answered her phone to a rather panicked daughter norma always knew that she suffered from anxiety but valerie was particularly paranoid this evening she was apparently finding it very difficult to talk and seemed to be very frightened over something asking her daughter what exactly the problem was valerie didn't mention anything or anyone specifically instead she simply said i'm scared i'm paranoid i'm getting anxiety attacks norma desperately tried to depry for more information from her daughter and valerie eventually replied back to say i'm scared someone is going to murder me now there wasn't much reason for valerie to feel this way she was a well-behaved woman had no enemies and lived a cautious life she may have broken up with her boyfriend five days earlier but he wasn't the aggressive type prying further norma asked her why she felt that way was there someone at her house and was it her ex-boyfriend valerie replied with no no and no she simply didn't feel safe being alone in her own home the two talked things through for a while putting it down to simple newfound anxiety there was nothing too much to worry about and shortly after this valerie norma said their good nights sleep well speak again soon only soon would never come as that very same night valerie disappeared texting back and forth with a friend late that evening valerie signed off from her phone at around 11 35 pm she said i'm a knockout now my eyes can't stay open anymore lol she had work early in the morning and needed to get some sleep but this was the last time she would ever reply to anyone as the very next morning she missed her shift at barnes noble her family were notified shortly after this and her friends eventually heard of the news too and despite loved ones trying to contact her she failed to respond to text messages all of her phone calls went straight through to voicemail valerie's disappearance became a lot more serious after this and on january the 30th at 2 43 p.m valerie reyes was officially reported as missing posters were distributed around the local area and as rumor made its way around the local community of new rochelle both concern and support were found there had been a series of murders against young women in the local area through recent years and although not likely connected it was very worrisome that valerie was now nowhere to be found the reyes family were quick to find an fbi agent who had been assigned to work in parallel with police investigations court documentation shows that special agent daniel mckenna had over 20 years of experience on the job and as investigations began law enforcement were quick to identify fresh bank activity from valerie's bank account she had apparently used an atm in the manhattan area at around 5am on the 29th of january this would have been only a few hours after her last confirmed contact with family and friends police were quick to request to review the footage from the atm machine but this would take a few days to come back there were several items missing from her apartment too it appeared as if she had taken her iphone ipad fresh sets of clothes and bed sheets so the question was had she left on her own accord or had she been taken over the following days scores of friends and family took to social media asking for help in finding their beloved valerie they shared pictures of her and described what she last wore but it seemed as if no one could agree where exactly she disappeared some of the makeshift posters that were shared across social media said she was last seen walking to the train station while others claimed that she vanished in lower manhattan but regardless authorities couldn't find any sign of valerie anywhere or at least for the first several days in the early morning hours of february the 5th 2019 highway workers were working along the side of the road of stillman lane found near the town of greenwich the location roughly 10 miles away from valerie's home that is when they came across a red suitcase the suitcase appeared to be full with a heavy and solid object inside approaching the suitcase curiosity got the better of them the highway workers slowly unzipped the bag and what they found inside was an awfully harrowing sight inside was the body of a young female adult she was fully clothed but her shirt had been unbuttoned she had visible injuries to her head her hands and feet were bound her mouth covered with several layers of tape to the men it was not clear how exactly she died but she clearly suffered a terrible death the woman in the suitcase was valerie and the very next day her own father and brother would confirm her identity after a week of panic questions and concerns later grisly and devastating end as valerie's family and friends faced the new challenge of comprehending their loss investigating officers refocused their efforts to find her killer and as it turns out progress was already being made police now identify the victim as 24 year old valerie reyes of new rochelle new york her body was found earlier this week on the side of the road the quiet road in greenwich connecticut she was discovered inside a red suitcase her hands and feet were bound reyes had been reported missing to new york state authorities and was last seen on january 29th at about 9 00 a.m now in a statement police say her family was advised of the positive identification last night and authorities are now sending heartfelt condolences to them now investigators also say that a cause of death has not yet been confirmed but many pieces of possible physical evidence were collected circling back to valerie's bank activity on the morning she disappeared this activity was actually a cash withdrawal from an atm machine located in new rochelle which means they could now look back at the atm's camera and although we don't have access to this footage detectives described a male figure in dark pants and black sneakers exiting a honda crv he then withdrew one thousand dollars from valerie's bank account the car's license plates was actually visible in adjacent surveillance footage and after doing some research they found that this car was a rental vehicle from a company in flashing new york just one phone call later and it appeared that this car had been rented to a man named javier de silva and it just so happened that this man used to be dating valerie reyes so who exactly is javier well first of all his full name is javier enrique de silva rojas born on january the 3rd 1995 he was a few months younger than valerie and also 24 years at the time of her disappearance javier was a college student living and studying in the country of venezuela now venezuela is currently in the middle of an economic and political crisis and it has been for several years now venezuela's current situation is both tragic and extremely interesting it is not something i can briefly cover but the long story short is that the country is in total anarchy and in the year 2017 javier fled from venezuela to make a better life for himself in the us unfortunately this was not through honest means he entered the us on the visa waiver program which allows visitors for tourism or business purposes to stay for 90 days or less without a visa javier overstayed his welcome and was living unlawfully in new york city but otherwise he didn't seem so bad he worked as a short order cook and cashier at a restaurant living in flushing of queens new york he was a gamer liked horror movies and generally kept his head down moving forward into january of 2018 javier met valerie on a dating website friendship kindled into a love interest and before they knew it the two were dating it's clear to see through previous social media posts that javier was madly in love with valerie in his own words which are kind of strange his favorite thing about her was how she smelled valerie was a lot of fun to be around and he appreciated her company greatly this relationship lasted for a few months but unfortunately in april of 2018 valerie felt forced to stand the relationship when javier grew too expectant of her apparently he wanted to move in with her something she was not yet ready for he was also allegedly very pushy and wouldn't take no for an answer the personal connection to valerie along with his surveillance footage was enough for officers to question his involvement so on february 11 2019 javier was arrested at his apartment since valor reyes was found deceased in greenwich on february 5th grants police have been working closely with police from new rochelle new york several crime scenes have been examined hours of surveillance video have been reviewed and numerous interviews conducted detectives from both agencies have pursued a multitude of leads there has been an intense focus on the use of valerie's atm card after which we believe she was murdered this line of investigation corroborated by others led us to a suspect last night in queens new york detectives from new rochelle accompanied by detectives from the greenwich police department located and arrested the suspects and the fraudulent use of valerie's atm card the suspect is javier de selva of queens new york but i want to emphasize investigation continues the investigation is not finished yet there's a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up javier started talking to police very quickly after his arrest and the news it wasn't good and although he admitted to burying her body he insisted that it was an accident he told officers that apparently she had died during one final session of sex falling off the bed and cracking her head open apparently he didn't know what to do now i'm not sure if binding his lover's hands and feet together packing her into a suitcase and then rinsing her bank account was the gentlest of approaches to a head injury but officers didn't like his story either according to a jailhouse interview with javier he said she fell we fell together she wasn't responding i put my mouth on hers i tried to put aaron i'm a bad person and i did something wrong i didn't call the police because i thought they would blame me he allegedly bound her body because she didn't fit in the suitcase and when asked if he knew cops would find him he nodded he even claimed he withdrew cash from valerie's account because he wanted to get caught but officers soon found a new potential motive behind his actions it turns out that on january the 24th only four days prior to valerie's disappearance javier had texted his new partner to say i just found my ex [ __ ] in my bed with the guy next door but i didn't want to tell you [ __ ] so we have now established that all of this was javier's wrongdoing but what exactly happened to valerie reyes on the afternoon of january the 28th 2019 valerie had left her job at barnes noble's and vernon shopping center later that evening she told her mother norma that she was nervous and anxious afraid that someone was going to murder her we don't know if this was an unlucky premonition or if she knew that javier was scheming but unbeknownst to valerie during this phone call to her mother javier was already up to no good at 10 50 pm a surveillance camera captured javier leaving his apartment in queens new york and five minutes later another camera spotted javier retrieving a rental car from a garage near his home google location data shows that javier then drove to new rochelle after plugging in the coordinates of the church near her home and just moments after midnight he reached valerie's house he then switched his phone to airplane mode and made his way to the front door shortly after gaining entry to the property valerie and javier began to argue a violent altercation ensued and as things became physical valerie suffered a traumatic injury to the head bruising around the face and a large hematoma to her forehead javier then covered her mouth with several layers of packing tape bound her feet and hands with twine and while she was still alive he then locked her in a suitcase javier then placing this suitcase containing her in his rental vehicle at approximately 3am javier gained access to her phone by taking her thumbprint he then took the opportunity to view her photos notes and browsing history very shortly after this but valerie's phone stopped pinging cell towers and this was likely by being put into airplane mode he then used her thumbprint again to gain access to her bank account on her phone and around half an hour after this he went to an atm machine and extracted 1 000 from her account it was in this very moment that javier made his greatest mistake one that would eventually get him caught as this atm had a camera after obtaining the money he then drove eastbound toward greenwich removed the suitcase containing valerie and dumped it in the woodland several metres from the road undisclosed surveillance footage then showed he arrived back at home at 9 43 am that morning and he was now wearing a different outfit compared to the night before on january 30th valerie was reported missing to the new rochelle police department by her mother father and recent boyfriend and all in the meanwhile javier pulled out another 1 000 out of valerie's bank account he then washed the rental car and returned it in the days after this and while her family and friends were left in panic and despair javier rinsed a total of 5 350 out of her bank account he sold her ipad and bought himself an apple monitor and a laptop instead and after this he would later take a photo of himself showing off his new tech gear valerie's body remained lost to the world for a total of eight long days we don't know how long she had survived but she was trapped in a suitcase that eventually became her own coffin on february 5th 2019 valerie was finally discovered by highway workers but tragically one of these workers would take pictures of her body and then send them to friends before calling the police quick side note but this idiot lost his job when xavier was arrested six days after this valerie's bank card and driver's license were found in his wallet his dna would also be found on the red suitcase and on a genital swab conducted on valerie's body on february 12 2019 javier de silva was charged with kidnapping resulting in death the connecticut medical examiner's office concluded that his ex-girlfriend had died from homicidal asphyxiation almost one year later on february 5th 2020 javier pled guilty to the kidnapping of valerie reyes this was in return for a named sentence of 30 years and in september of 2021 he received just that as most of these stories go multiple victim impact statements were released within these statements valerie's mother said a mother never wants to face a terrible day like this it would take me a day to describe the joy that valerie brought into our lives my boys are all heartbroken and devastated you javier de silva are a selfish greedy soulless person today i hope that valerie finds the justice she deserves judge bracetti followed up in court by saying what you did to this woman was sickening anyone who could do such a thing is not a good person by definition and anyone who can do a thing like that is an evil person justice requires an evil deed to be punished by a lengthy prison sentence it is obvious to see that javier kidnapped and murdered an innocent young woman with her entire life ahead of her and he did this in an incredibly cruel fashion the final moments of her life and the final memory many will have of her will be a valerie gravely injured and trapped in her own suitcase a vision among the most horrific of thoughts the motives behind javier's actions were ridiculous but obvious he murdered his former lover out of jealousy and greed the almost entirely absent emotions of care and compassion replaced by venomous levels of self-regard with javier's visa long expired before his crimes he now faces immediate deportation after his prison term but before that he will have to make it to the year 2049. whether he'll move back to venezuela or portugal it is not yet clear valerie's murder was so senseless that even her killer has left this story feeling entirely remorseful she has lost her life in the most horrific of ways and deserved so much more time than she was given her mother norma still describes her as humble artistic and a true warrior she was free-spirited and always brightened the lives of her family and friends with her beautiful smile and without her her brothers remain heartbroken from her absence following valerie's death her family and friends raised a gofundme campaign to help pay for her funeral costs valerie received a tremendous amount of support from the local community and in fact over 31 thousand dollars was raised to help play her to rest and unfortunately that just about wraps up the case of valerie reyes another young woman senselessly murdered by a heartless fool there weren't many side notes to this case but one thing that i did find strange however was the glaring mistakes found in official court documentation for example an attorney states that valerie's body remained there for almost two weeks but their own dates of january the 29th and february the 5th would confirm only eight days i'm not sure if this is an exaggeration or not but it's highly unprofessional just state the facts false reports of seeing valerie in town after the day she disappeared certainly muddied the waters of this case too again highlighting the importance of witnesses giving accurate statements and that's pretty much it today thank you again so much for watching another video by coffee house crime folks what exactly are your thoughts on the case of valerie reyes do you think that 30 years is enough please share your thoughts in the comments section down below thank you again for being here folks i really do appreciate you being here and maybe one day i'll get around to making you that cup of coffee and thank you to scentbird for partnering up with me on this video use my coupon code to see crime55 to get 55 off your first month at sandberg that's just seven dollars for your first month please check the links down below now as always i'll see you again real soon in the next video but until that moment arrives please remember to look after each other goodbye you

Channel: Coffeehouse Crime

Views: 1,549,683

Keywords: coffeehouse crime, true crime, coffee house crime, crime, valerie reyes, javier da silva, suitcase, disappearance, new rochelle, new york

Id: GHAMn34O9FU

Length: 23min 39sec (1419 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 16 2022