Husband charged with murder
Authorities: Toledo admits fatally striking Suarez during argument but denies killing her children
Discovery of bones brings hope, fear to others.
The husband of a missing Deltona mother was arrested on a second-degree-murder charge Monday after authorities said he had confessed to killing his wife, 28-year-old Yessenia Suarez.
Luis Toledo previously had been described as a “person of interest” in Suarez’s killing.
He has denied killing her two children — Thalia, 9, and 8-year-old Michael Otto — who also are missing and presumed dead, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said. AsofMonday night, Toledo had only been charged in his wife’s death.
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Check for updates in case: Also, hear from Felicita Perez, right, mother of Yessenia Suarez.
“He has so far refused to disclose the whereabouts of her body,” sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said in a statement late Monday evening.
A search through the weekend for the mother and children was unsuccessful and was “temporarily suspended” Monday.
The Sheriff’s Office for the first time Monday night detailed what led it to conclude that Suarez and her children were dead: According to Davidson, a series of violent arguments between Suarez and her husband “came to a head” Oct. 22, when Toledo went to Suarez’s workplace to confront her and a co-worker she “had been seeing.”
Toledo slapped his wife before fleeing, authorities said.
The next morning, deputies went to check on Suarez and her children at their house after Suarez’s mother called to report that she couldn’t get in touch with her daughter and was concerned Toledo might have harmed her.
Toledo soon arrived and claimed he had slept in his car at the house after an argument and woke up Wednesday morning to find Suarez and her children gone. Toledo was arrested for domestic violence.
However, a neighbor soon revealed that Toledo had asked for help about 6 a.m. Wednesday “dropping off his wife’s car,” which they left in Lake Mary. Asearch of the couple’s house later revealed blood, Davidson said.
Though he initially denied involvement, in later interviews with investigators Toledo “admitted that while arguing with Suarez” Tuesday night, “she became aggressive and so he struck her in the throat with an open hand and she subsequently died from the blow.”
Toledo was being held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on Monday night. The murder arrest comes after he attempted suicide Saturday in a bathroom at the Sheriff’s Office’s Operations Center, according to authorities.
He denies killing the children, Davidson said, and “has implicated someone else in their deaths.”
“The Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation,” Davidson said. “The search for the victims is ongoing.”
Hours before the Sheriff’s Office announced Toledo’s arrest, Suarez’s mother, Felicita Perez, said she was holding on to hope despite detectives’ confidence that her daughter and grandchildren are dead.
“Where are the bodies?” she said outside her home. “Bring methe proof.”
Yessenia Suarez was in her mother’s house Tuesday night discussing the future of her marriage after her husband — a former gang member — slapped her in front of her colleagues at her Lake Mary job.
Suarez was determined to end the relationship. Her mother begged Suarez to stay the night, but the young mother was exhausted and wanted to sleep in her own bed. Besides, she and her kids lived right around the corner from their abuela.
As she reached the front door, Suarez turned and looked back at her mother — and that was the last time she saw her daughter.
Late Thursday, Volusia County deputies came to Perez’s home to notify the family that their three loved ones were dead.
Perez had been with Thalia and Michael since they were born. Thalia was her first grandchild of five and the firstborn of her eldest daughter.
Many afternoons, she picked up the third-graders — known as “the twins” by classmates — and brought them home to supervise their homework.
While Thalia needed no prodding, Michael could be distracted by television. Though virtually inseparable — they were born 10 months apart — the siblings were polar opposites, Perez said.
An extrovert, Thalia thrived in school, played clarinet and joined a cheerleading squad, the Mighty Mites. Her natural exuberance was often on display during Sabbath School at their Seventh-day Adventist church as her grandmother narrated Bible stories and Thalia acted them out for students.
“She was just one of those kids who had every positive attribute you would want in a kid,” said Dicye Byrd, Thalia’s cheerleading coach.
Michael was more reserved, childlike and lived in a world all his own. Content to be alone with his toys, Michael was playful and loved to be chased by his grandma when she wanted a kiss.
“He didn’t give them for free,” Perez said. “I would have to wrestle him to get a kiss from him.”
While Michael took after his father physically, Perez said, Thalia was her mother Yessenia’s clone.
After having her children young, Suarez earned her associate’s degree in humanresources management from Valencia College in May2011. Her goal was to finish her bachelor’s by the age of 30.
Fellow organizational behavior students at Rollins College’s Hamilton Holt School remembered Suarez as a charismatic and determined professional who excelled academically.
“She was a strong-willed woman and passionate about her education,” said academic adviser Debbie Tatum. She was a role model to her younger siblings Emily and Jonathan Suarez, Perez said.
Classmate Carmen Rasnick worked alongside Suarez at the school and said she brought her children to all the activities, wanting to include them in her education.
Suarez met Toledo five years ago, and by outward appearances, the family lived a peaceful life. Though she knew of Toledo’s past, Perez said she accepted her daughter’s choice in a husband.
It’s not clear what drew Suarez to the former Latin Kings gang member with a violent history. The couple had been married nearly three years but had been discussing a separation, records show.