Champagne Bottle Stolen from McLean Grocery Store Leads to Arrest in Murder Case

For more than two years, Fairfax County police detectives were stumped trying to find a suspect in the high-profile murder of a young college student in Falls Church.

They got their break when a fingerprint on a bottle of champagne stolen in McLean matched a print on a knife found in the murdered college student's car, according to a report by The Washington Post. 

A match on a Moet & Chandon champagne bottle stolen from a Giant Food store in McLean led to the arrest of a murder suspect.

Falls Church resident Julio Miguel Blanco Garcia was convicted of stealing several bottles of Moet & Chandon from a Giant Food store in McLean in April 2012, The Washington Post reported. Police matched his fingerprints after his conviction.

The victim in the two-and-a-half year old murder case, Vanessa Pham of Falls Church, was a 19-year-old home for the summer after completing her freshman year studying fashion design at the Savannah College of Art and Design when she died.

She had just heard that day — June 27, 2010 — from a Great Falls family who wanted to hire her for the summer to be a nanny. She shared the news with friends on Facebook just before she was killed.

Police later reported in court documents made public that Pham was stabbed 13 times after giving a man a ride from a Falls Church parking lot. The Post report noted that the man was high on PCP and was carrying his 1-year-old daughter and had asked Pham for a ride to the hospital.

After the suspect allegedly stabbed Pham, she lost control of her car and crashed half a mile from the shopping center. With baby in tow, the man reportedly crawled out of the car and fled the scene, the Washington Post reported from court documents.

Garcia goes on trial for the murder August 19 in Fairfax County.