A Navy reservist from Virginia who was accused of murdering his wife after her body was found in their freezer was arrested in Hong Kong, ending a two-month international manhunt, authorities said Wednesday.

David Varela, 38, is expected to be charged with first-degree murder after the "successful overseas apprehension," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.

Varela was apprehended late Tuesday in the former British colony and taken Wednesday to San Francisco, where he appeared before Magistrate Judge Alex Tse on Thursday.

Tse ordered federal marshals to take Varela to the federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Varela "has been on the run for over two months attempting to avoid prosecution for these heinous crimes, but justice doesn’t forget," Patel said.

Lina M. Guerra, 39, was reported missing in early February by her brother after he couldn't reach her for more than two weeks, FBI Special Agent Connor Patrick Maguire wrote in an affidavit supporting Varela's arrest on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Varela didn't return calls from his Navy superiors, and detectives searching the couple’s home found Guerra "deceased in the kitchen freezer," Maguire wrote.

The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide.

Varela flew to Hong Kong around Feb. 5, and WhatsApp data soon showed he was in the special administrative region of China, the FBI agent said.

It's not clear why Varela is alleged to have fled to the Chinese-controlled city, as his family is from Colombia and they do "not have any discernible ties to Hong Kong or China," according to the affidavit.

Even though investigators were confident they could find Varela in Hong Kong, his apprehension was a relief to Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi.

"I was always hopeful that the long arm of the law would ultimately reach Mr. Varela and allow us to secure justice for Lina Guerra and her family," Fatehi told NBC News on Thursday.

"But I've learned that there is no such thing as certainty in our business."

Paola Ramírez, Guerra's sister-in-law in Colombia, said the family received a call from U.S. authorities Wednesday informing them about Varela's capture.

"When the whole family learned the news, all we did was weep. The very first thing we did was cry. We were trembling," Ramírez said in Spanish. "We are grappling with so many conflicting emotions.”

"We, too, loved David very much; we had welcomed him into our family as her husband," she added.

Varela and Guerra met in Florida in 2015. They worked at the same restaurant, Varela as a chef and Guerra as a waitress, Ramírez said. They were married about a year later and remained together until February.

Ramírez said the family viewed the pair as "a normal married couple," but they have learned of a few allegations of violence. Guerra alleged that one time, Varela slapped her, and the family learned of another incident "through third parties," Ramírez said.

When Guerra stopped working and decided to be a stay-at-home wife, the family wondered whether the shift had anything to do with Varela's being "a little bit jealous," Ramírez recalled.

"She never, ever spoke ill of him," Ramírez said of her sister-in-law. "She always spoke highly of David. She admired him greatly. She used to say that he was a very intelligent man and that she was very grateful to him."

"She loved him very much," Ramírez said.

Before Guerra's body was found, she was the subject of a "critical missing adult alert" by Virginia State Police.

The 4-foot-9, 100-pound woman's "disappearance poses a credible threat to their health and safety as determined by the investigating agency," Virginia police said at the time.

Guerra's family in Colombia is trying to determine whether her ashes can be returned to her homeland.

Authorities handed Guerra's ashes over to a relative who traveled from Colombia to the U.S. to claim them, but "we still don’t know if it’s possible to bring them back here," Ramírez said.

Ramírez said that in the meantime, as the family is dealing with an immense void, she will remember Guerra as another mother to her son and husband, who first reported her missing two months ago.

"She was a woman filled with immense kindness. She always put others before herself," Ramírez said. "She was, and will continue to be, that person who was always there for us."