More than two months after 39-year-old Lina Guerra's body was found stuffed inside a kitchen freezer at her downtown Norfolk apartment, an international manhunt continues for her husband.
Authorities charged Navy Reservist David Varela with first-degree murder and concealment of a body. Officials believe Varela may have fled to Hong Kong.
The couple had been living at the ICON apartment building in Norfolk for about two years, according to Guerra’s family.
Watch previous coverage: Lina Guerra's body was found in the kitchen freezer — as her husband flew to Hong Kong.
Guerra's family said they last heard from her in mid-January.
WTKR spoke to Guerra's relatives, who live more than 2,300 miles away in Colombia, using a translator. Her sister-in-law, Paola Ramirez, said the family wants justice.
"To know whether maybe he will pay for what he did. Sometimes we sit and talk and wonder what his life is like — whether he can sleep, whether he is living normally as if nothing happened," Ramirez said.
Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi is seeking to extradite Varela back to the U.S. to face the charges and said international authorities are trying to find him.
"Going on 19 plus years as a state and federal prosecutor, this is only the second case where I've had to involve Interpol,” said Fatehi said.
Watch previous coverage: Husband charged with murder of 39-year-old Lina Guerra in Norfolk
Interpol is an international clearinghouse for over 190 countries' police organizations.
Meanwhile, Guerra's family said they are struggling to get her ashes sent back to Colombia.
"We have tried to communicate with the funeral home there, but from here it is a little complicated. We want them brought here, so we can hold a ceremony for her. But it’s complicated when you’re in another country, and even more with the language, which makes communication much harder," Ramirez said.
The family also said they cannot get information about the location of Guerra's dogs, though they were told one may have died. They said they are unable to get information about how to retrieve her possessions from the Norfolk apartment and another apartment they said the couple had in Florida.
Watch previous coverage: Missing Norfolk woman died from blunt head trauma, OCME confirms homicide ruling
Ramirez said someone online contacted the family anonymously, making strange comments about the case before deleting the Facebook profiles used to send the messages.
The family, who reported Guerra missing to authorities, said Varela was controlling and abusive.
The family said when they asked why they hadn’t heard from Guerra, Varela told them he was devastated claiming that Guerra had been sent to prison for shoplifting, even sending a picture of her wearing what looked like an orange jumpsuit.
WTKR searched and found no courts of any kind of arrest or conviction.
The family said the pain of losing Guerra in a violent way, mixed with uncertainty of what happened and why, makes it extremely hard as they mourn the woman they called the pillar of their family.
"It is very difficult to fill that emptiness. We miss her every day," Ramirez said.
WTKR covered this story in a recent episode of our podcast True Crime 757.
