A Bucks County man who allegedly killed his girlfriend, abandoned her body, and fled to Honduras is charged with murder

A Telford man has been charged with murder after, officials say, he stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death inside the apartment they shared and fled the country, hiding out in Central America for months.

Darwin David Espinal del Cid, 27, was taken into custody during the weekend by officials in his native Honduras in the March 7 death of Maria Popol, Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan said Monday.

Khan, in announcing the arrest, described Popol as a loving daughter and sister who cared deeply about her family. Espinal del Cid, he said, ended her life in a heartless, violent manner and then furthered her family’s suffering by stealing her cellphone and pretending to be her, in text messages he sent them.

It was an attempt, Khan said, to throw investigators off his trail as he fled the country.

But investigators were able to track Espinal del Cid’s movements, in part through his cellphone, according to Khan.

“This was a place where he thought he would be safe, that he could outrun the law, that the Bucks County DA’s office and the authorities wouldn’t catch up to him,” Khan said. “And at a certain point he may have believed that he was successful, but he was wrong.”

He remains in custody in Honduras, and is awaiting extradition to Bucks County.

Popol’s body was found on March 15 inside a second-floor apartment on North Main Street in Telford where she previously lived with Espinal del Cid. Her parents had filed a missing person’s report two days earlier, on what would have been her 23rd birthday, Khan said.

A neighbor, helping the family search for Popol, entered her apartment and found her.

Her family, in a statement to The Inquirer, said she was in the process of moving to a new apartment nearby, fleeing what they described as an abusive relationship with Espinal del Cid.

Khan said Espinal del Cid stabbing Popol in the neck with a sharp object and hid her body in a closet as she bled to death.

Popol’s family told The Inquirer they last heard from her on March 6, after she rode in an Uber with Espinal del Cid. The two were arguing, prosecutors said, about Popol’s decision to end their relationship.

She texted her mother and told her she was looking for a new apartment, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Epsinal del Cid’s arrest.

Her brother, Ronaldo, said she was seen hours later in a video from a doorbell security camera carrying luggage while she was moving into her new apartment.

A witness told police that, while picking up Popol to take her to her new apartment, Espinal del Cid forced himself into the car, crying and acting hysterical, saying that he “couldn’t afford to lose her,” the affidavit said.

When Popol returned to the apartment where she lived with Espinal del Cid, the two got into another heated argument, loud enough for neighbors to overhear, according to the affidavit.

In the days that followed, Espinal del Cid continued to act erratically, asking his former boss for money to buy a plane ticket to Honduras, weeping openly in public and saying, “God forgive me.”

A friend of Espinal del Cid who drove him to the airport noted he was carrying three cellphones, one of which appeared to be Popol’s, the affidavit said.

On March 9, Espinal del Cid boarded a plane heading to Honduras by way of Florida at Philadelphia International Airport.

The entire time, investigators said, Epsinal del Cid texted Popol’s friends and employer, asking for money in messages that they agreed were not written in her usual style of talking.

Popol moved to Bucks County from her native Guatemala in 2023 to support her parents, who are in declining health, according to her family. She worked as a waitress at Don Leo, a Latin American restaurant not far from her apartment.

“She had come to this country hoping for a better life,” Ronaldo Popol said, describing his sister as “very affectionate, kind, and patient.”

Khan said Popol’s death is the latest example of fatal domestic violence in Bucks County. Since he took office in January, nearly all of the murders his office has investigated have been committed by one of the victim’s loved ones.

“It’s the reason that we are showing this picture of [Espinal del Cid], not to glorify him, but to ask for the public’s help, because while he thought he was smarter than everyone else, the law was catching up to him and we want the public’s help,” Khan said.