A 19-year-old Salvadoran migrant has reportedly confessed to murdering a woman he was romantically involved with and dousing her in gasoline in sanctuary Fairfax County, Virginia.
The suspect, Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos, is accused of brutally stabbing the woman inside her car. A jogger found her Monday morning near a popular trail in Great Falls, Va.
Cedillos-Campos is among thousands of migrants from El Salvador who crossed the southern border during the Biden administration.
He entered the U.S. at El Paso, Texas, in April 2024 under Biden’s reckless catch-and-release policies, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
“The Biden administration hand-delivered Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos to the streets of Fairfax County,” DHS officials wrote in post on X. “They recklessly unleashed millions of unvetted illegal aliens into American communities and abused the law to do so.”
The Biden administration hand-delivered Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos to the streets of Fairfax County. Cedillos-Campos is a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador who was arrested by CBP in 2024, after illegally crossing the Biden administration’s open border near El Paso, TX.… https://t.co/DOK8XVQrXb
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 19, 2026
Cedillos-Campos was romantically involved with the homicide victim, 42-year-old Carmen Lizet Puch, and admitted to killing her, WUSA 9 News reported.
Fairfax County officials held a press conference Wednesday and said Puch is from Reston, Virginia, and a mother to a 3-year-old girl, WJLA 7News reported.
Police said she was attacked inside her car early Monday, but she was found outside of it near a popular trail in Difficult Run Park.
Investigators arrested Cedillos-Campos Wednesday in connection with Puch’s murder. Police said a motive remains unclear, but the couple intentionally met at the park.
Police Chief Kevin Davis said Cedillos-Campos “is offering a full confession.”
Authorities located the suspect in Maryland and booked him on a second-degree murder charge. The U.S. Marshals Service and the Prince George’s County Police Department assisted with the arrest.
A jogger found the woman dead around 7 a.m. Monday near her Honda Civic, which was parked near a popular trail in the affluent Northern Virginia suburb, Fox News reported.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Puch had multiple stab wounds and had been doused in gas. Investigators allege he tried to set her on fire but failed.
According to NBC Washington, “people who knew her … said she was soft-spoken and worked hard to support her young daughter.”
Within 48 hours, they identified Cedillos-Campos as a suspect. The two individuals worked together at Bitez Restaurant and had been involved in an intimate relationship, investigators said.
“We are still uncovering the many layers of motive that exist when two people are involved in a relationship, and where another relationship may exist as well,” Davis said during the press conference.
Fairfax County police said detectives collected evidence and conducted interviews.
Surveillance video from the restaurant provided police with additional clues. Davis described the evidence as “all very premeditated.”
On the night of the murder, Cedillos-Campos was captured on camera taking a fixed-blade knife, latex gloves and a water bottle from the restaurant before leaving. He later siphoned gasoline from his motorcycle, emptied the water bottle and filled it with the gas.
Investigators have not released a motive or what prompted the attack. At the park, investigators allege Cedillos-Campos repeatedly stabbed Puch and then doused her with gasoline.
He is being held in the Prince George’s County jail pending extradition to Fairfax County, where he faces a second-degree murder charge, Fox News reported.
Fairfax County, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is one of the most affluent counties in America.
“This brutal killing of this mother was 100% preventable,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said. “The Biden administration released this illegal alien MURDERER into our country.”
The White House X account also highlighted the crime, adding President Donald Trump is “taking dangerous criminal illegals off our streets & protecting American communities.”
THIS IS OUR WHY: Alexis Cedillos-Campos is a criminal illegal who was arrested by CBP in 2024 after illegally crossing the Biden admin’s open border and then released back into the U.S.
This past week, that same criminal illegal brutally killed a mother in Virginia. @POTUS is… pic.twitter.com/CiOFd23ISu
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 20, 2026
The Trump administration and DHS officials have slammed Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger and the Soros-backed Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano for their soft-on-crime policies that protect illegal immigrants.
DHS officials called on local authorities and Spanberger “to put her community first and turn over this criminal illegal alien to ICE.”
The majority of the county’s violent crimes so far in 2026, including murder, machete attacks and heinous sex crimes against children, have been tied to illegal immigrants, including several who were admitted under the Biden administration.
Spanberger rescinded an executive order by the former governor that directed state law enforcement agencies to assist federal immigration authorities. She also ordered state and local law enforcement agencies to terminate all 287(g) agreements with ICE.
