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Man Arrested For Murder 15 Years After Girlfriend's 'Tragic' Disappearance In Boston
Witnesses reported seeing David Pena, then just 17 years old, and another man carrying what was believed to be Felicia McGuyer's body wrapped in a carpet out of their building around the time of her 2007 disappearance.
Police say they’ve apprehended a suspect in connection with the 15-year-old disappearance of a young mother in Boston.
David Pena, now 33, was arrested Monday on murder charges relating to the 2007 disappearance of Felicia McGuyer, 32, according to the Boston Police Department. A warrant was issued for Pena’s arrest before the department’s Fugitive Unit went to Florida's Baker County Detention Center — an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Macclenny, Florida — where the suspect was being held “for rendition.”
The outstanding warrant charging Pena with murder was issued by Dorchester District Court officials in December, according to the Boston Herald. It was unclear if Pena was arrested on separate charges in Florida or if he was apprehended as a direct result of the recent warrant.
“Information leading to Pena’s arrest was developed through interviews conducted since McGuyer’s disappearance, with the latest taking place in March 2022,” said District Attorney Kevin Hayden, according to CBS News.
Police say Felicia McGuyer disappeared on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007, after last being seen in the Roxton Street area of the Dorchester neighborhood in Boston, leaving behind her 10-year-old son.
Court records state that the then-17-year-old Pena was the 32-year-old McGuyer’s live-in boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, according to ABC Boston affiliate WCVB (The general age of sexual consent in Massachusetts is 16.)
A neighbor living below the couple reported that Pena had knocked on his apartment door in the early morning hours of a day in October 2007 and asked for a ride to receive medical treatment, claiming that McGuyer had stabbed him with a pair of scissors, according to the Boston Herald. However, the neighbor said there seemed to be too much blood on Pena’s shirt, given his wounds.
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Pena doubled down on claims that McGuyer stabbed him during initial interviews with police, claiming he left during the altercation, according to WCVB. Pena allegedly told police that, when he returned days later, McGuyer and her possessions were nowhere to be found, leading him to believe that she and an ex-boyfriend had ran away to Florida.
However, police stated during a public appeal in 2013 that it was “not common behavior for McGuyer to be out of touch with her son, other family and friends.”
The same neighbor who saw Pena's injury told investigators that, two days later, at around 4:00 a.m., he and another person witnessed Pena and another man “struggling to carry what appeared to be a rolled up multi-colored blanket,” according to WCVB-TV and the Herald.
Another person — likely the second man seen by the neighbor — told police in 2017 that Pena had asked him to help remove items from the apartment, including a rolled-up carpet described by the witness as “difficult to carry,” court records stated, according to NBC Boston affiliate WBTS.
“[Witness] immediately thought there was a body wrapped up in a carpet and blanket,” according to the charging documents. “[Witness] eventually observed that it was, in fact, Felicia McGuyer’s body.”
Witnesses reported seeing Pena and the second male placing McGuyer’s body into the back of a car before driving away at a high rate of speed. In 2017, the man who said he'd help carry a body down the stairs claimed he helped Pena take the victim's body to a wooded area near a parking lot in the Boston area.
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The FBI Evidence Response Team assisted Boston Police during a 2017 search of a construction site near Enneking Parkway by Turtle Pond in Boston, according to CBS Boston affiliate WBZ-TV. Ultimately, nothing was found.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden called the case “tragic,” according to MassLive.
“Felicia McGuyer’s family and friends have lived with her tragic absence for many years,” Hayden stated. “While Mr. Pena’s arrest and arraignment can never erase their grief, it can at least provide the knowledge that someone will be held accountable for her death.”
Officials brought Pena back to Massachusetts, where he was transported from Logan International Airport to District B-3 (Mattapan), “where he was booked in the usual manner,” according to Boston Police. It wasn’t until after he was returned to Massachusetts that officials learned Pena was also wanted by the Suffolk Superior Court on charges of cocaine trafficking.
On Tuesday, Pena appeared for arraignment at the Dorchester Municipal Court, where he was ordered held without bail, according to the Boston Herald.
He is scheduled to appear for a probable cause hearing on Feb. 17, according to MassLive.
