Armando Manuel Caballero, 27, was found dead by apparent suicide on Monday morning. He was a 'person of interest' in the disappearance of Miya Marcano and allegedly broke into her apartment just before she vanished
Family and friends of missing Florida college student Miya Marcano have been searching the woods behind the Seminole County apartment complex where a ‘person of interest’ in the her disappearance had died by suicide on Monday and dashed their hopes of getting answers.
Marcano, 19, lives and works at the Arden Villas apartment complex in Orlando, Florida and was last seen finishing her shift there at around 5pm on Friday before she vanished and left behind signs of a violent struggle, including bloodstains on a pillow, police said.
About a half hour earlier, Armando Manuel Caballero, 27, a maintenance worker at the building, allegedly broke into her room and police were set to arrest him on suspected burglary charges when they found his body. He was also ‘infatuated’ with Marcano and she had repeatedly let him know she wasn’t interested in him, family members said.
'He killed himself. So he was our lead to Miya and he killed himself. Miya’s still missing,’ Semone Westmaas, Marcano’s aunt, told reporters near Cabellero’s apartment during the search effort.
Miya Marcano's family searched for her in the woods outside his apartment complex on Tuesday. Marcano's uncle Marc was above briefing a group before they set out to search for her
Semone Westmaas, Marcano’s aunt, told reporters that Caballero's death leaves them grasping for answers
Marcano's cousin Caili Sue said that Caballero had an ‘infatuation’ with Marcano, which she repeatedly turned down
Westmaas was seen in footage from the Orlando Sentinel briefing members of the search party, in which she said, ‘Keep Miya in your prayers. Don’t give up on Miya. I believe that she is alive and we’re gonna find her.’
She added, ‘We have more family coming, we have friends coming, we have strangers who are driving from all over Florida who are meeting us in Orlando. They’re popping up, they’re introducing ourselves, they’re ready to start a search team. Like I said, we’re leaving here with Miya alive.’
Shortly after her disappearance, Westmaas had an unsettling encounter with Caballero outside Marcano’s apartment complex. ‘He was trying to leave, his lights were off, and he said “are you looking for Miya.” I said “who are you” and he said “I’m the maintenance guy, I heard you were looking for me. I didn’t know who this guy was at the time,” she told local news outlet WKMG News 6.
But Marcano’s cousin, Caili Sue, knew who Caballero was and that he had an intense obsession with the missing woman. ‘He was infatuated with her, he was in love with her. I don’t know the very specifics of it, but he was constantly texting her and then had left her alone and then went back to texting her again,’ she told Fox 32 Orlando.
Marc Marcano, her uncle, prepared a group to go door to door around Caballero’s apartment complex searching for his niece in the case that she was being held hostage.
Where is Miya? Authorities in Florida are searching for 19-year-old Florida college student Miya Marcano. She was last seen at her apartment complex in Orlando on Friday
Caballero also had a ‘romantic interest’ in Marcano, which she ‘repeatedly rebuffed,’ police said
Speaking to a group looking for her, he said, ‘Think about if you were kidnapped, what would you want to do? If you’re handcuffed or tied to something in a room, you’re not going to be right next to the window, so you gotta listen for the faintest sounds. Say her name. Knock on the door and say her name.’
Caballero's body was found by police on Monday around noon, but he had been dead 'for quite some time' by the time they arrived, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said at a press conference Monday.
Caballero’s car, a silver Ford Fusion, was found outside his apartment in Seminole County and has been taken by police as part of their investigation.
Mina added, ‘Her disappearance is suspicious and our detectives and the family members suspect foul play.'
Marcano, who attends Valencia College, was scheduled to catch a flight to Fort Lauderdale that night, but she never made it to the airport, her family said.
Detectives first interviewed Cabellero for tips as he worked in the same apartment complex as Marcano. He told
