Husband found guilty in missing body murder

Wife’s remains never located

Cid Torrez murdered his wife and hid her body in the Everglades in 2012, but he could not hide from the evidence that proved his guilt, a Broward jury decided Friday.

Torrez, 43, was convicted of second-degree murder and other offenses related to electronically stalking his estranged wife, Vilet Torrez, in the months leading up to her disappearance. Her body was never found. Cid Torrez faces a maximum term of life in prison when he’s sentenced Sept. 1.

Prosecutors say Torrez killed his wife after she came home from a date early on March 31, 2012. They had separated the previous September.

The jury heard testimony during the twoweek trial that Torrez had been violent toward his wife inthe past, planted tracking software on her cellphone, asked a friend where to buy an

illegal gun and hide a body, and warned the friend that if Vilet could not be with him, she would not be with anyone.

Cid Torrez had spent the day on March 30, 2012, with their three children and the night with them in Vilet Torrez’s home, according to trial testimony. Vilet Torrez went on a date the same day and did not return until after 5 a.m. the next morning.

Surveillance footage from her gated Miramar community shows Vilet Torrez arriving, and cellphone records show her calling Cid Torrez around the same time. In his statement to investigators, Cid Torrez said she never made it home and wouldn’t have been able to get in the house without him because the front door was latched — it had to be opened by someone inside the house.

Prosecutors believe Cid Torrez killed his wife in a jealous rage and hid her body in the Everglades on April 1, while his children were at his cousin’s house and he was supposed to be picking up a pizza.

When he called 911 to report his wife missing, Cid Torrez told the dispatcher, “Now Sunday I definitely did it.” Prosecutors Lanie Bandell and Heather Henricksen said the comment was an unintentional reference to his hiding the body, while defense lawyer Richard Della Fera said it was a confused reference to Cid Torrez calling Vilet’s mother to try to find out where shewas.

Jurors also heard during the trial from the couple’s daughter, also named Vilet, whosaid shewas awakened March 31by a howling noise followed by her father’s voice saying “No, you wake up.”

Prosecutors urged the jury on Thursday not to reward Torrez for his success in disposing of the victim’s body. Jurors made one concession to the defense — finding Torrez guilty of second-degree murder means Broward Circuit Judge Lisa Porter doesn’t have to sentence him to life in prison, although that remains an option.

A life sentence is mandatory with a first-degree murder conviction.

Della Fera said he intends to appeal the conviction because the judge allowed a family friend to testify about previous acts of alleged abuse and because the prosecution relied in part on the testimony of police K-9 handlers whose dogs had been trained in the detection of human remains. Two dogs, working independently, signaled to their handlers that the odor of a dead body was inthe trunk of Cid Torrez’s Jaguar.

Before the trial started, local lawyers said prosecuting a murder case without a body is a difficult but not insurmountable challenge.

Former prosecutor Gregg Rossman managed it in the case against Oscar Came jo, a homeless man accused of killing a Davie woman, Jill Dornbush, who refused to let him use her shower in 2010. Dornbush’s body was hidden in a dumpster and incinerated before anyone knew she was missing.

But a witness spotted Camejo and his girlfriend getting rid of a rolled up carpet sagging in the middle, and the girlfriend testified against him.

Torrez had no co-defendant to turn on him, but the testimony of his friends and his daughter apparently proved persuasive to the 12-member jury.

Jurors were escorted out of the courthouse, and efforts to reach them by phone Friday were unsuccessful.