Rape, abduction suspect captured in west Florida
The man suspected of abducting a Cleveland Clinic employee, raping her and then taking off in her car early Saturday morning has been located and taken into custody, police said Sunday.
Joel Cossio, 31, was captured north of Fort Myers in Charlotte County after a tipster saw the news coverage alerted police, Sgt. Don Prichard, a spokesman for the Broward
Sheriff ’s Office, said. He is being held on one charge of grand theft auto with no bond at the Charlotte County Jail and will face additional charges once he’s returned to Broward County.
Officials did not elaborate on the origin of the tip, but a statement from the Cossio family provided to the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Sunday indicates that Cossio’s relatives provided authorities with information. The statement, provided by Cossio’s
a total of 22,912 Floridians have died from COVID- 19. In addition, 349 non- resi dents have died after contracting the virus. Most of the fatalities reported Sunday happened over several weeks but were just confirmed in the past day.
Out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Florida ranks No. 22 for deaths per 100K residents and No. 23 for cases per 100K residents, according to the latest data from the health department and the COVID Tracking Project.
Hospitalizations
As of Sunday, there were 7,497 people hospitalized in Florida with a primary diagnosis of COVID- 19, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.
In South Florida, Broward County reported 628, Palm Beach County had 416 and Miami- Dade had 1,081.
Hospitalizations hit a peak in late July of about 9,500 patients statewide, then dipped as low as 2,011 on Oct. 19. The numbers steadily increased throughout November and December.
Vaccines
I n F l o r i d a , 4 7 8,4 4 3 people have received their first dose of the vaccine, or about 2.23% of the population. So far, 35,857 people have completed the series of doses required to be vaccinated. That represents about 0.17% of the population.