Miami-Dade police make arrest in fatal beating of 74-year-old man

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A southwest Miami-Dade man has been accused of brutally beating a 74-year-old man to death last month near the Florida Everglades.

Diego Puente, 42, faces charges of second-degree murder and driving while under the influence. 

Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, said Puente attacked Miguel Hechavarria-Hernandez on July 27 near Southwest 216th Street and Southwest 203rd Avenue.

Paramedics rushed Hechavarria-Hernandez to Jackson South Medical Center, but he died of injuries two days later.

Police tracked down Puente at a Chinese buffet in northwest Miami-Dade on Friday and arrested him.

Puente is being held without bond at Miami-Dade County's Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.