The Westchester woman found dead last week in a suitcase in Connecticut was laid to rest Wednesday — as authorities revealed that her suspected killer was in the United States illegally because he overstayed a tourist visa.
“She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve what they did to her,” said José Sanchez, 73, the grandfather of victim Valerie Reyes. “We want justice.”
Sanchez and Reyes’ grandmother Graciela Sanchez flew in from Mexico for the traditional funeral at St. Gabriel’s Church in New Rochelle, which included a mariachi band.
Reyes’ mom Norma Sanchez, broke down in tears as she anointed her daughter’s emerald-green casket with holy water during a burial at Greenwood Union Cemetery later Wednesday.
Grieving friends and family laid red and yellow roses on the casket, and released about a dozen white balloons.
Meanwhile, a source with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Post Reyes’ accused killer, ex-boyfriend, Javier Da Silva Rojas of Queens, has been living in the country illegally since August 2017 — and revealed ICE had issued a detainer to have him deported.
Rojas, 24, who holds dual citizenship in Venezuela and Portugal, entered the US on the Visa Waiver Program — which allows citizens of certain countries to come to the US “for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa” — on May 8, 2017, sources said.
He was able to take advantage of the program thanks to his Portuguese citizenship — the US does not extend the VWP courtesy to Venezuelans, according to the State Department.
But he “failed to leave the United States within the required time frame,” the source added.
Rojas did not appear to leave the country, but did take trips to Florida, Texas, Maryland and Washington, DC, during the time he overstayed, according to his Instagram account, which also includes a photo of Reyes and Rojas at a Mount Vernon CVS last year.
Cops say Rojas killed Reyes in her New Rochelle home sometime between Jan. 28 and 29, sealed her mouth with duct tape and bound her limbs with twine before cramming her in a suitcase and her to Greenwich, Conn., where he hid the body in a stand of trees.
He was arrested Tuesday. ICE on Wednesday placed a detainer on Rojas, which asks law enforcement to alert the agency before he is released from custody so immigration officials can take a crack at deporting him.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore