A Rockville man was sentenced to 40 years in prison in the 2022 death of his ex-girlfriend, whose body he put in garbage bags and tossed over a highway bridge.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Sharon Burrell on Friday sentenced Francisco Lara-Garcia to life in prison with all but 40 years suspended. Lara-Garcia, 33, was also ordered to serve five years of supervised probation upon his release for the beating and strangulation death of 20-year-old Keylin Chavez Dominguez.

Lara-Garcia pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on March 19, according to a Thursday statement from the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Chavez Dominguez and Lara-Garcia’s roommate saw them arguing on Dec. 29, 2022, according to prosecutors. The victim and Lara-Garcia had broken up but were still living together.

Lara-Garcia was then financially dependent on the victim. The roommate told investigators Lara-Garcia had been increasingly jealous while Chavez Dominguez began a relationship with a new boyfriend, prosecutors said.

She was reported missing on Jan. 2, 2023.

Her remains were found Jan. 28 that year by a man walking his dog on a path that runs under State Route 200, the Intercounty Connector, between New Hampshire Avenue and Route 29.

Chavez Dominguez’s body was “concealed by two plastic trash bags,” prosecutors said.

An autopsy concluded the victim died by strangulation and blunt force trauma.

Police spoke to Lara-Garcia about the death of his ex-girlfriend the day her body was found. After he spoke to them, he left the state and was arrested on Feb. 1, 2023, by U.S. marshals in St. Louis, prosecutors said.

Lara-Garcia told Montgomery Police who traveled to St. Louis to interview him that he killed his ex-girlfriend on the night of Dec. 30, 2022, after a fight about the music she was listening to, according to an arrest warrant charging him with murder.

He hit her in the face and fatally choked her, he told investigators.

Lara-Garcia also told investigators he placed her body inside two trash bags and dumped it over the Intercounty Connector bridge on Dec. 31, 2022, the warrant said.

Lara-Garcia’s attorneys were not immediately reached for comment Thursday afternoon.