Fifteen years later, family seeks justice
Arrest, release of suspect heightened grief for Suarez family
The family of Alesha Suarez thought they had closure when a man was arrested for her 2002 slaying.
But the charges were dropped against him a few days after the arrest.
Because of Florida’s speedy trial rule that requires prosecutors to bring a defendant to trial within 175 days unless there is a valid reason, they can no longer bring charges against that man even if new evidence comes to light.
That means unless someone else is charged, the family will never receive closure as another anniversary of her death goes by.
“I think it’s an injustice,” said her aunt Dorothy Torres. “I understand they want to protect the suspect and their civil rights, but the victim, they have civil rights, too.”
Saturday marked 15 years since Suarez, a 23-year-old single mother, was brutally murdered when she was repeatedly stabbed in the neck and chest in her apartment.
Suarez’s daughter was 3 at the time of the slaying. She is now 18 and graduated high school last year.
“Having the child was the happiest time I’ve ever seen her,” Torres said.
After she was killed, her killer piled bedding and a piece of furniture on her body and set it on fire. The Cypress Club apartments were evacuated and her body was found when neighbors realized she didn’t come out.
About two months after the slaying, her then-24-year-old boyfriend was arrested an charged with first-degree murder.
Orange County Sheriff’s deputies said at the time that their main evidence was ATM records that showed he was near her apartment at the time of the murder.
Detectives also said her friends told them she changed her locks because she was afraid of him.
But just three days after his arrest, the case fell apart because detectives realized the ATM records were based on Greenwich Mean Time, meaning he was actually there about four hours before the slaying.
Det. John Allen, who oversaw the homicide division of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at the time and is now