KEY LARGO, Fla. – A Key Largo man accused of trying to kill his mother's live-in boyfriend because of a rent dispute is wanted on an outstanding warrant.
Adrian Rodriguez, 26, is wanted on a charge of attempted murder.
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Daniel Rivero, 47, told a Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputy that he went to bed May 12 and woke up the next morning "feeling like he had been hit with something." When Rivero tried to get out of bed, he couldn't stand and noticed a large amount of blood coming from an injury to his head.
Sheriff's detectives said they believe that Rodriguez struck Rivero twice in the head with a glass ashtray while Rivero was asleep.
Rodriguez then broke two cellphones that Rivero might have used to call for help and headed north toward Miami, detectives said. As he was driving north, Rodriguez called 911 and told a dispatcher that someone was bleeding from the head at the Key Largo home from which he fled, but Rodriguez hung up before the dispatcher could get more information, detectives said.
Rivero was first taken to Mariner's Hospital and then flown to Kendall Regional Medical Center. Detectives said Rodriguez returned to the home the next morning while investigators were there. Rodriguez admitted to making the 911 call but told investigators that he found Rivero on the floor of his bedroom, bleeding from the head, detectives said.
However, there were many inconsistencies between Rodriguez's story and evidence found at the scene, detectives said.
Rivero claimed that he went to bed and woke up to pain in the back of his head. When Rivero touched his head, he saw blood on his hand. After he tried to get up and fell to the ground, Rivero stumbled into the kitchen, where he found two broken cellphones. Rivero said they weren't broken when he left them there the night before.
Doctors told detectives that Rivero suffered a fractured skull, a brain bleed and swelling to the brain. They said the injuries, if untreated, could have been fatal.
Rivero said he believed that Rodriguez hit him and left him to die because of $550 in rent that he owed.
Rodriguez is currently at large. Anyone with information as to his whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers of the Florida Keys at 800-346-TIPS.
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