Springfield Man Sentenced To 70 Years In Assault Case

SPRINGFIELD, VA — A Springfield man was sentenced Friday to serve 70 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping and sexually assaulting a woman who was later found dead in Fairfax County woods in 2024.

Fairfax County Circuit Court sentenced Terence Bridgett Jr., 33, after he pleaded guilty in February to five charges: rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, concealing a dead body and unlawful filming. The court imposed two life sentences for the rape and forcible sodomy convictions, along with 20 years for aggravated sexual battery, five years for concealing a dead body and one year for unlawful filming. All but 70 years of the sentence were suspended.

Victim Reported Missing After Meeting High School Friend

According to the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, Fayra Bonilla-Rubi, 26, was reported missing after she failed to return home following a meeting with Bridgett, a high school friend, on June 8, 2024. Her partially decomposed body was found six days later in a wooded area, covered by a sheet and with most of her clothing removed.

Prosecutors said investigators recovered video from Bridgett's cellphone showing Bonilla-Rubi appearing unconscious inside his minivan. Bridgett's DNA was linked to the victim's body and clothing, while surveillance footage and cellphone location data showed the pair had been together for several hours that afternoon, contradicting Bridgett's account of what occurred.

A Fairfax County grand jury had also indicted Bridgett on a first-degree murder charge. However, prosecutors said the charge was not pursued because the medical examiner was unable to determine Bonilla-Rubi's cause of death or conclude that she died by homicide.

The charges that resulted in Bridgett's guilty plea included rape of a helpless victim, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual battery involving an incapacitated victim and unlawful filming of a nonconsenting nude person. Court records show those felony charges were certified to the grand jury following preliminary hearings in Fairfax County General District Court.

In a statement announcing the sentence, Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano said the case had deeply affected the victim's family and community.

"Fayra's death and disappearance devastated her family and community, and it is even more disturbing to know that she was violated and assaulted while unconscious by someone she trusted," Descano said. "It is in our shared public safety interest that the man who did this to her will not be able to hurt anyone else."

Court records also show Bridgett had previously been charged with felony failure to appear in connection with an earlier case, which was later nolle prosequied, as was a separate 2018 embezzlement case.