Man Killed Ex-Girlfriend In Lower Providence, Dumped Body By Schuylkill River Trail: DA

LOWER PROVIDENCE, PA — A 23-year-old Upper Darby man who was looking at a potential 5-to-10-year prison sentence in an ongoing strangulation domestic violence case against his former girlfriend is now being charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in connection with her killing.

Freddy Remigio Mendieta Pando, of the 200 block of Copley Road, was formally charged Friday by Montgomery County authorities with the killing of Karina Torres, 23, also of Upper Darby.

The charges came one day after Pando walked into the Upper Darby Police station in neighboring Delaware County and confessed to killing the woman, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, who held a news conference on the case in Norristown Friday afternoon.

The killing happened about 15 feet off of the Schuylkill River Trail in Lower Providence, Montgomery County, near the Betzwood Trailhead entrance.

After Pando’s alleged confession in Upper Darby, Lower Providence police were contacted and investigators scoured the area near the trail. They ultimately found the victim’s body laying facedown around 1:25 p.m., Steele said.

Steele called the case the “worst end result of domestic violence.”

“What we know is that he stabbed her to death, it was a brutal murder, then he hid evidence and hid the body,” Steele said at the news conference.

Torres, a mother of a 4-year-old child, had previously taken out a Protection From Abuse order against Pando, Steele said, and a hearing in that matter had actually been scheduled for Sept. 16 in Delaware County.

Steele said that following his previous arrest for strangling Torres, Pando had posted $2,500 cash bail, which is 10 percent of a larger amount. Pando had been out on bail at the time he allegedly killed Torres, which authorities believe to have been on the afternoon or evening of Sept. 11.

Asked by a reporter whether the killing may have had anything to do with the domestic violence case against Pando, Steele replied, “Whether that was the cause or not, I can’t tell you.” However, Steele said Pando was aware that his liberty was in jeopardy over certain legal issues.

Steele said he was unaware whether Torres had been abducted or taken by force. He said the victim’s family had been looking for her “desperately” for a number of days and that “this was a really tragic way to find out what happened to her.”

Steele was unsure whether the family had filed a missing persons report.

Steele said investigators are still combing the crime scene looking for the murder weapon, a knife. He said river divers are also checking the area.

Pando is being held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and an arraignment was scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Steele took the opportunity during the press conference to discuss domestic violence. He urged anyone who is a victim to seek help, and that there are resources in both Montgomery County and Delaware County to help with these issues.

This is a breaking news story. More information will follow.