Article Text
A Fairfax County Circuit Court judge sentenced Terence Bridgett Jr. to 70 years in prison on July 24 after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Fayra Bonilla-Rubi and concealing her body.
Judge Jonathan Frieden imposed life sentences for rape and forcible sodomy, 20 years for aggravated sexual battery, five years for concealing a dead body and one year for unlawfully filming a nude person, suspending all but 70 years.
Bridgett pleaded guilty on Feb. 17 to rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, concealing a dead body and unlawful filming. A first-degree murder charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement because “an autopsy could not determine Ms. Bonilla-Rubi’s cause of death or that she died by homicide,” according to the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
Bonilla-Rubi, a 26-year-old Springfield resident, had known Bridgett since high school. On June 8, 2024, she met him and did not return home afterward, according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. Her family reported her missing two days later.
Her body was found June 14, 2024, in a wooded area near the 7600 block of Highland Street in Springfield. The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office said her body was partially decomposed, covered by a sheet and found with most of her clothing removed.
An arrest warrant was issued for Bridgett on June 19, 2024, according to online court records reviewed by FFXnow. A grand jury indicted him Dec. 16, 2024, on six charges: first-degree murder, rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, concealing a dead body and unlawful filming.
Prosecutors said Bridgett’s phone contained video showing Bonilla-Rubi apparently unconscious in his minivan. They said his DNA was linked to her body and clothing, while surveillance footage and cell-location data corroborated that they had been together for hours at multiple locations.
A trial originally scheduled for April 28, 2025, was postponed to Feb. 17, 2026, when Bridgett instead entered his guilty pleas.
At sentencing, Bonilla-Rubi’s mother and sister gave testimony describing the effect of her death on their family.
“It is in our shared public safety interest that the man who did this to her will not be able to hurt anyone else,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said.