Fairfax County police arrested a 19-year-old Maryland man on Wednesday, Aug. 19, in connection with the stabbing death of Carmen Lizet Puch, the 42-year-old Reston woman whose body was found Monday, Aug. 17, in the Difficult Run Park parking lot in Great Falls, just minutes from Vienna along Georgetown Pike.

Alexis Antonio Cedillos-Campos faces a charge of second-degree murder, though Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference that a first-degree murder charge remains possible. "It certainly sounds premeditated to me," Davis said.

Detectives identified Cedillos-Campos as a suspect within 48 hours of Puch's death by processing evidence from the park, reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing Puch's relatives, friends and coworkers, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

The FCPD's Fugitive Tracking and Apprehension Team coordinated with Prince George's County police and the U.S. Marshals Service to locate and apprehend Cedillos-Campos without incident Wednesday morning in Lanham, Md. He is being held at the Prince George's County jail while awaiting extradition to Fairfax County.

What police say happened

Restaurant surveillance video showed Cedillos-Campos taking a large fixed-blade knife, black latex gloves and a water bottle from the kitchen of the restaurant where he and Puch both worked early Monday, Aug. 17, according to Patch. He then emptied the water bottle and filled it with gasoline siphoned from his motorcycle, police said.

Puch and Cedillos-Campos arranged to meet at the remote parking lot off Georgetown Pike, which has no security cameras. Police said Puch appears to have been sitting in the driver's seat of her 2011 Honda Civic when she was stabbed multiple times. Cedillos-Campos then poured gasoline on her and attempted to set her on fire, but the attempt failed, according to police.

A runner discovered Puch's body near her car around 6:43 a.m. and called 911. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Relationship between suspect and victim

Through interviews with Puch's family, friends and coworkers, investigators determined that Cedillos-Campos and Puch worked together at Bitez restaurant in Herndon and had been involved in an intimate relationship, FFXnow reported.

Puch was the mother of a 3-year-old daughter. Cedillos-Campos is not the child's biological father. Family members drove from New Jersey to care for the girl after learning of the killing.

Abdul Anwari, owner of Bitez restaurant in the Village Center at Dulles, told NBC Washington that he and Puch's coworkers were shocked. "I don't know if you can process something like this. It's not something you expect," Anwari said. He added that a GoFundMe has been set up to support Puch's daughter, with restaurant staff also donating personally.

Confession and ongoing investigation

At the time of Davis's 1 p.m. news conference on Wednesday, Aug. 19, Cedillos-Campos was being interviewed by homicide detectives and was offering a full confession, Davis said.

Police are also investigating whether a black sedan seen on surveillance footage traveling on Georgetown Pike around the time of the killing has any connection to the case. Detectives have not ruled out the possibility of another person being involved, though there is currently no evidence of that.

The Department of Homeland Security alleged Wednesday that Cedillos-Campos had entered the U.S. illegally in 2024 near El Paso, Texas, and was released by Customs and Border Protection. Davis declined to comment on Cedillos-Campos's immigration status at the press conference.

Victim specialists from the FCPD's Major Crimes Bureau have been assigned to assist Puch's family. No extradition hearing date has been publicly announced.