Body found in woods ID’d as missing student
Days after Orange County deputies found the body of a woman in the woods near the Tymber Skan apartments, the District 9 Medical Examiner’s Office identified her as missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano.
Daryl K. Washington, the attorney representing Marcano’s family, said the news was “very tough” for the family to hear Tuesday, despite officials having expressed confidence the body they found Saturday was that of the Valencia College student.
“It’s just a really sad situation of what this young lady went through,” Washington said.
He said the family had received a few more details about what happened to Marcano, but he wasn’t ready to share them publicly. The Medical Examiner’s Office has not released her autopsy report, including her cause of death, citing the ongoing investigation by the Orange County Sheriff ’s Office.
A search party combed the area near Holden Heights Saturday morning after cellphone data from the prime suspect in Marcano’s disappearance, 27-year-old Armando Caballero, showed him in the area for about 20 minutes in the hours after Marcano was last seen Sept. 24.
Authorities said Marcano worked with Caballero at the Arden Villas apartment complex, where Marcano also lived, and he had repeatedly made unwanted advances toward her. He was found dead in an apparent suicide at a Seminole County apartment complex days after investigators spoke to him about Marcano’s disappearance.
Detectives later learned Caballero, a maintenance worker at the Arden Villas, used a master key to improperly enter her apartment not long before she was last seen. Orange County Sheriff John Mina told reporters that deputies are not looking for any other suspects, believing “pretty conclusively” that Caballero was solely responsible for Marcano’s death.
Washington said he would like the Sheriff’s Office to release more information, both publicly and to the family, as its investigation continues.
“I need to be able to look at all the information,” Washington said.
A statement from the Sheriff ’s Office on Tuesday didn’t include any new information and also did not indicate when the probe is expected to be completed.
Washington said the family is glad to see the residents at Arden Villas, a complex near UCF mostly housing students, have come together to call for improved safety and security measures.
“We hate to see Miya losing her life, ... but sadly it took [her death] to bring attention to this issue,” Washington
said. He said the efforts he and the family are hearing about, both locally and elsewhere, to improve apartment complex safety is bringing them “some comfort.”
“People are seeing how serious an issue this is,” Washington said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of changes.”
He said he and the family are looking into possible legislation about security at apartment complexes to prevent future tragedies.
Residents at Arden Villas are planning a protest Wednesday to bring attention to their ongoing safety concerns, including maintenance employees entering apartments unannounced and without permission and the front gate being left open.
Washington said he’s heard from many current and former Arden residents with bad experiences at the complex, including one woman who said she had made multiple complaints about Caballero to apartment management but was “basically ignored.”
Washington said the family still haven’t spoken to anyone from the apartment’s management team but were recently contacted by an attorney for the complex.
Arden Villas is owned by The Preiss Company, a North Carolina-based company that specializes in student housing. A spokesperson for that company hasn’t responded to questions from the Orlando Sentinel about security concerns.