Miya Marcano.Photo: Orange County Sheriff’s Office
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Armando Manuel Caballero, 27, had expressed a romantic interest in 19-year-old Miya Marcano before she vanished, but he was repeatedly rebuffed.
“I think that it is a situation where someone had developed a romantic interest,” Mina said at a press conference Monday. “Obviously, Miya wasn’t interested. We are still trying to investigate all the circumstances behind this and what exactly happened regarding her disappearance.”
Marcano, a Valencia College sophomore, disappeared around 5 p.m. on Sept. 24, at the Arden Villas Apartments in Orlando where she lived and worked in the leasing office. Caballero had been working in maintenance at the complex since June.
“Her disappearance is suspicious and our detectives and the family members obviously suspect foul play,” Mina said. “We are still doing everything possible we can to find her.”
Armando Manuel Caballero.
“We now know that a maintenance issued master key FOB which Caballero was known to be in possession of was used to enter Miya’s apartment on Friday afternoon at about 4:30 p.m.,” Mina said. “This would have been about 30 minutes before she finished her shift at the apartment complex.”
Marcano was last seen at the apartment complex around 5 p.m.
Marcano’s family toldWESHthat she planned to fly to Fort Lauderdale on Friday night to visit family members but missed her flight.
“Obviously her family raised this level of alarm and concern knowing Miya would never not be in contact with them, would never turn off her phone and never let her phone battery drain completely down,” Mina said.
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Mina said investigators issued an arrest warrant for Caballero and were looking for him over the weekend before they found him dead at his apartment in Seminole County on Monday.
At the press conference Monday, Marcano’s aunt Pia said she believes her niece is still alive.
“I know you are alive,” she said. “I know you are out there. We love you….We will never sleep one night until we get you home. We miss you.”
Anyone has information about her whereabouts is asked to contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at 407-836-4357.
source: people.com
