Body found near apartment complex confirmed to be Miya Marcano
The body found near an apartment complex over the weekend was identified as Florida college student Miya Marcano, authorities confirmed Tuesday.
The 19-year-old’s death is still under investigation and a cause of death was not given, according to a statement from Joshua Stephany, chief medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties.
Marcano was last seen Sept. 24 at her home in the Arden Villas apartment complex in Orlando, about a mile from the University of Central Florida. Marcano, a sophomore at Valencia College, was supposed to fly home to Fort Lauderdale that day but didn’t show up for her flight.
Her remains were found Saturday behind a different apartment complex, Tymber Skan on the Lake. A purse with her identification was found near her body, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies were in the area because cellphone records showed that Armando Manuel Caballero, whom authorities called a “prime suspect,” was in or near the apartments the same evening Marcano was reported missing.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Caballero used to live at the complex and was there for about 20 minutes.
Caballero, 27, was a maintenance worker at the Arden Villas apartment complex and had shown interest in Marcano, but she repeatedly rebuffed his romantic advances, authorities previously said.
Caballero had access to a master key that authorities believe he used to access Marcano’s apartment at about 4:30 p.m, about half an hour before the end of her shift in the leasing office.
He was found dead Sept. 27 of an apparent suicide, though authorities were not sure when he died. Mina said “he had been dead for quite some time” by the time authorities found his body.
Marcano’s aunt, Gabriela Sánchez, told Noticias Telemundo in an interview that she never believed a tragedy like this could happen to her family.
“It’s a pain in the chest and in the stomach that we have,” Sanchez said. “I don’t know how, as a family, we’re going to go on with this pain.”
Related:This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.
