Fatal stabbing in West Palm parking lot leads to man’s murder arrest
A fight between two men in West Palm Beach last month resulted in one being stabbed to death and the other being arrested on a murder charge.
Manuel Orozco, 51, of Greenacres is facing one count of second-degree murder after police alleged that he killed 54-year-old Iosvani Casonova Moreno during an altercation on the night of Feb. 29 outside a community grocery store on the 3900 block of Lake Avenue. Moreno’s body was later found less half mile to the south, outside a bank on 800 block of Southern Boulevard.
Orozco was arrested Tuesday, March 26, and told to appear at a bail hearing at the courthouse annex at the Palm Beach County Jail. He declined to appear for the hearing, records show.
Circuit Judge Donald Hafele assigned Orozco a public defender and ordered that he be held without bail. Hafele also ordered that Orozco have no contact either with Moreno’s family or witnesses. As a policy, the county Public Defender’s Office does not comment on open cases.
According to a West Palm Beach police report, officers responded to a 911 at about 10 p.m. on Feb. 29 and found Moreno lying in the northeast corner of a bank parking lot near the Southdale Shopping Center.
They observed what appeared to be a stab wound to his chest. West Palm Beach Fire Rescue medics arrived and declared Moreno dead.
A man using the bank’s drive-up automated teller machine observed Moreno lying in the bushes, went to a nearby Publix supermarket and instructed employees to call 911.
A witness contacted police the next day and described hearing about an altercation between Orozco and Moreno. She was shown a photo of the stabbing victim and said she recognized the person as Moreno.