Man, 27, on the run after police charge him with murder in connection to live-in ex-girlfriend's disappearance
Fairfax County Police Department
- Joel Merino is wanted on suspicion of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hannah Choi, in Virginia.
- Choi's body hasn't been found, but officials say evidence makes them certain she's dead.
- The 35-year-old's family has started a GoFundMe to raise money for a reward for tipsters.
Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, continue to search for a 27-year-old man wanted on suspicion of killing his 35-year-old live-in ex-girlfriend and dumping her body in a Maryland park earlier this month.
While Hannah Choi's body hasn't been found, officials said that they've recovered evidence that makes them certain that she was killed by Joel Merino. At a March 15 press conference, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis called it "unusual" and a "once in a decade circumstance" that his department would have enough evidence to issue an arrest warrant for murder without a body.
Merino is wanted on charges of second-degree murder and disposal of a body. Officials haven't released much information on Merino, other than to say that he is "fairly transient," may be going by another name, and that there had been no prior calls for service at the home he shared with Choi.
Sgt. Tara Gerhard, a spokesperson for the Fairfax County Police, told Insider on Wednesday that the department had "no significant updates" to the case. She said that investigators were waiting to hear back on digital evidence warrants to plan new searches.
The Fairfax County Police did not immediately respond to Insider's request for an update on the case on Wednesday.
According to March 15 press release from the Fairfax County Police Department, Choi was reported missing on Sunday after friends showed up at her house in Alexandria and no one answered the door. They then called police, who entered the home and found nothing amiss other than bedding missing from one of the bedrooms, according to the press release.
Friends and family told police that Choi spent the day prior with Merino.
"Detectives believe during their time together Ms. Choi may have sustained a significant injury. Detectives believe Merino then removed Ms. Choi from the home and transported her to another location," according to the press release.
WUSA9
Inside the car "detectives discovered evidence to suggest Ms. Choi was harmed prior to her disappearance," according to the press release.
Officials wouldn't elaborate on what kind of evidence they found inside the car at a March 15 press conference but said it made them certain that she had died.
"We know something bad happened, really bad," Major Ed O'Carroll, major crimes commander, said at the press conference. "We have evidence and details that make us believe firmly believe without any doubt that she's deceased."
O'Carroll said that detectives believe Merino went to Piscataway Park in Maryland hours after killing Choi, where they believe he may have dumped her body. Law enforcement agencies have conducted multiple searches of the park, but haven't found Choi's body yet.
After Choi's disappearance, Merino fled the state and was last spotted in Georgia, O'Carroll said at the March 15 press conference. O'Carroll says investigators believe he has since left Georgia, and are not sure about his whereabouts. Officials told WUSA9 that they haven't ruled out the possibility that Merino has fled the country.
Choi's little sister, Minna, told WUSA9 that she and her sister owned the house in Alexandria where her sister was last seen and where Merino had moved in at one point. She added that she didn't know much about Merino.
The family has set up a GoFundMe to raise money for a reward on information leading to Merino's arrest.