Bill seeks to improve apartment safety

‘Miya’s Law’ named for murdered S. Florida teen

The family of murdered college student Miya Marcano wants a law passed in her honor to improve apartment safety and make changes aimed at preventing similar tragedies.

State Sen. Linda Stewart is preparing to introduce a bill titled “Miya’s Law” that would require apartment managers to conduct national background checks on employees.

“There has to be a better background check on these folks,” said Stewart, D-Orlando. “It was a very elementary type of background check that was being used. That is unacceptable.” Police suspect Marcano, a 19-year-old Valencia College student from Pembroke Pines, was killed by a maintenance worker who had a key to her apartment.

Marcano was reported missing by her family after she missed a flight home to South Florida.

Eight days later, police discovered her body in a wooded area near an Orlando apartment complex.

Thousands of mourners attended her funeral at a Pentecostal church in Cooper City. Marcano’s father Marlon Marcano and her stepmother Giselle Blanche Marcano are well-known Caribbean artists and entertainers. She and her family participated in the Miami Carnival for decades.

The legislation hasn’t been formally introduced and is still being finalized.

The draft proposal would require apartments with five or more units to screen their employees. Apartment complexes would need to establish procedures for issuing keys to employees and maintaining logs. Landlords would need to provide at least 24 hours’ notice instead of just 12 before entering a tenant’s apartment for non-emergency repairs and maintenance.

Marcano was reported missing Sept. 24 from her apartment at Arden Villas. Police suspect 27-year-old Armando Caballero, an Arden Villas maintenance worker, killed her and dumped her body. Caballero was found dead by suicide at a Seminole County apartment complex just days before Marcano’s body was found.

Marcano’s family has created the Miya Marcano Foundation, which plans to work with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in support of the legislation.

“I’m happy to know that we’re working on legislation in Miya’s name, that will serve to protect other young ladies not ... in the state of Florida but eventually the entire country,” Daryl K. Washington, the Marcano family’s attorney, said in a prepared statement. “We know that this is something Miya would be pushing for if she was alive. Her ultimate motivation in life was to protect others, and through Miya’s Law, this will be done.”

Marcano’s death sparked protests from Arden Villas residents. They accused the apartment complex’s owner, The Preiss Co., of failing to keep residents safe. The complex is home mostly to students who attend the University of Central Florida and Valencia College.

Marcano’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit this past month, accusing Arden Villas of negligence in employing Caballero, who officials said made unwanted advances toward Marcano before her death. Marcano worked for Arden Villas in addition to living there.

A Preiss company spokesperson did not return a message seeking comment this week. In a previous statement, the company said it

conducted a background check on Caballero and found no records of burglary or sexual assault.

Laureen Crowley, a spokesperson for the Florida Apartment Association, said her industry group has been collaborating with Stewart, the state senator working on

Miya’s Law, and “looks forward to remaining engaged” in the effort.

Lawmakers are expected to take up the issue during their next legislative session that starts on Jan. 11.