Miya Marcano, and Armando Manuel Caballero
As deputies in Florida continue searching for a missing woman, authorities have announced disturbing development about a person of interest in the case.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office just named Armando Manuel Caballero, 27, as a person of interest in the disappearance of his co-worker Miya Marcano, a 19-year-old woman who was last seen on Friday afternoon. Sheriff John Mina said that authorities had gotten a burglary warrant against Caballero, but deputies will never execute it: Caballero was found dead in an apparent suicide on Monday in neighboring Seminole County.
Marcano was last seen at the Arden Villas apartments on Friday at approximately 5 p.m., authorities have said. She was both a tenant and employee there, Sheriff Mina said at a Monday press conference. Caballero was a maintenance worker there since June and expressed romantic interest in Marcano, Mina said. Marcano turned him down, but Mina said Caballero used a master key fob to enter her apartment at 4:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the end of her shift. Hence, the burglary warrant. Also, as we noted above, Marcano was last seen at 5 p.m.
Deputies spoke to Caballero in the initial investigation, but at the time they only considered him a maintenance employee giving information, Mina said. Caballero allegedly told investigators he last saw Marcano on Friday at 3 p.m.
Marcano’s family, who appeared at the press conference, asserted that it was completely out of character for her to become uncommunicative, said Mina.
The sheriff said a few items in the apartment were considered to be suspicious, but he declined to say which. The investigation is ongoing.
“Our sole purpose is to find Miya,” Mina said. As part of the investigation, he called on members of the public for any information on her whereabouts, and Caballero.
“If you knew him, if you saw him or saw his car,” he said. “He was driving a silver Ford Fusion with Florida tag PZUJ17. Like I said, we already recovered that vehicle, but we want to know any circumstances where someone may have seen him in that vehicle and where they were.”
Deputies describe Marcano as Black, with brown hair and green eyes, standing 5’0″, and weighing 130 pounds.
Orange County deputies are handling the missing persons case while their counterparts in Seminole County are investigating Caballero’s death.
Caballero was found dead in a building at the Camden Club apartments in unincorporated Longwood, Seminole County Sheriff’s Public Information Manager Kim Cannaday told Law&Crime. She specified that this was not in an apartment. Authorities received a call at 10:30 a.m. regarding a dead person. The medical examiner’s report is pending. Cannaday said she could not specify why investigators believe Caballero’s death was a suicide.
Marcano’s worried family members remain hopeful that she will be found alive.
“I know you’re alive,” said Marcano’s aunt Pia Scarbriel Henry. “I know you’re out there. We love you. You know our family is strong. You know our family is big. You know we will never sleep one night until we get you home. We miss you.”
[Images via Orange County Sheriff’s Office]