A man has been sentenced for the killing of a 20-year-old Montgomery County woman whose remains were discarded under an Intercounty Connector bridge in late 2022. According to charging documents, Keylin Chavez Dominguez was murdered on December 30, 2022, following an argument in the Rockville apartment she shared with her ex-boyfriend, despite the pair no longer being together.
Francisco Lara Garcia, 33, received a life sentence last Friday in Montgomery County Circuit Court. All but 40 years were suspended, and he will face five years of supervised probation upon release. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on March 19, 2025, after previously denying any involvement in Chavez Dominguez’s disappearance.
Chavez Dominguez was reported missing on January 2, 2023, when she failed to meet her current boyfriend. Although she and Lara Garcia had ended their relationship, both continued living in the same apartment. Her disappearance sparked concern among friends and family.
Her body was discovered nearly a month later, on January 28, by a man walking his dog in Silver Spring. The remains were partially concealed in trash bags along a wooded path beneath Maryland Route 200 between New Hampshire Avenue and Route 29, according to WTOP.
After the discovery, investigators went to Lara Garcia’s apartment. Within an hour of their arrival, he fled the state and traveled to Missouri with plans to return to Honduras. Fearing he might leave the country, authorities arrested him four days later in Missouri for driving without a license. During questioning by Montgomery County investigators, he confessed to the killing.
State’s Attorney John McCarthy later said, “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.”
According to investigators, the murder began with a dispute over the music Chavez Dominguez was playing. The argument escalated until Lara Garcia beat and strangled her. The next day, he left her cellphone near her current boyfriend’s home in an attempt to redirect suspicion. He then stopped along the Intercounty Connector, tossed her remains off the bridge in trash bags, and drove to Philadelphia for New Year’s Eve.
The pair had begun dating in Honduras in 2021 before moving to Maryland. Even after their breakup, they continued living together, with Chavez Dominguez paying most of the rent. A roommate said Lara Garcia rarely worked, was jealous of her new relationship, and had shown troubling behavior, including sticking sewing needles into a photo of her the night before she disappeared.
Judge Sharon Burrell imposed the 40-year prison term during sentencing last week.
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