Nineteen-year-old Miya Marcano went missing on September 24. She was last seen at the Arden Villas Luxury Apartments in Orlando where she lived and worked, according to authorities.
Orange County, Florida sheriff’s office, the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement all did their best to solve the case, but its conclusion was tragic.
At a press conference on Saturday, Orange County, Florida Sheriff John Mina said that a body believed to be Marcano has been found near an apartment building.
Read more below.
Body Found
"Everyone wanted this outcome to be different," Mina said at the press conference, as reported by CNN.
The investigators found Marcano’s body while searching a wooded area near the Tymber Skan on the Lake apartments, which is located around 18 miles west of the college student’s home.
Marcano’s family has been notified of the discovery, Mina explained to members of the media, but the medical examiner has yet to make an official identification.
A purse with Marcano’s personal identity documents was found near the body, according to the sheriff.
Armando Manuel Caballero
A man named Armando Manuel Caballero has been declared a person of interest in the Miya Marcano case.
Caballero, a maintenance worker at the Arden Villas apartments, allegedly had a romantic interest in Marcano, but she repeatedly rebuffed him.
"We are not looking for any other people. We believe pretty conclusively that Armando Caballero is responsible for this crime," Mina said.
Authorities say Caballero entered Marcano’s apartment without her permission. Caballero was found dead of an apparent suicide on September 27, as The Sun noted.
Marcano Murder
The authorities actually talked to Caballero during the initial stages of the investigation, when he told them he had last seen Marcano around 3 p.m. on the day she went missing.
"We now know that a maintenance-issued master key fob, which Caballero was known to be in possession of, was used to enter Miya’s apartment Friday afternoon, at about 4:30," Mina told reporters.
"This would have been about 30 minutes before she should finish her shift at the apartment complex," he added.
Caballero was never charged with Marcano’s murder.
Missing Person Cases
The mysterious disappearance and death of Gabby Petito appears to have prompted a renewed focus on missing person cases such as Miya Marcano’s.
Petito embarked in July on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend Brian Laundrie, but never returned home. Her body was earlier this month in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.
Laundrie is still missing. Experts believe his parents are key to finding him, since he is an avid outdoorsman and most likely camping out somewhere in the United States.
