Cheerleading coach found stabbed to death inside Kendall home

Detectives say killer locked door to apartment while leaving

KENDALL, Fla. – A cheerleading coach was recently killed in southwest Miami-Dade, and now officials are turning to the public for help in solving the case.

Joany Lobo's cousin, Lourdes Sanchez Breton, said her cousin, better known as Jojo, was a friend to everyone. 

In a phone interview with Local 10 News reporter Amy Viteri, she said the family was stunned to hear someone stabbed the 39-year-old cheerleading coach to death inside his Kendall apartment last week. 

"That's the most devastating part, not knowing who did this sickening thing to such a beautiful soul. We don't have much information," she said. 

Miami-Dade police said coworkers and friends contacted them after no one heard from Lobo and he didn't show up for work. 

Last Friday, around 3 p.m., police found the door of Lobo’s home on Southwest 125th Avenue locked and called Miami-Dade Fire Rescue for help getting in. 

"Unfortunately, once we went inside his residence, we did find him deceased with multiple stab wounds," Detective Argemis Colome said. 

Investigators said they're looking at every angle. They said there was no sign of forced entry and the killer seemingly locked the door upon leaving. 

"It could have been somebody he knows. That's something we’re not going to discard. Somebody who may have had access to his residence before," Colome said. 

Lobo had worked at Evolution All Stars Gym for the last three years as a cheer coach. It's a sport he'd been involved in since high school and it was his passion, according to family, who said they're hoping someone with information does the right thing. 

"Hope is all we have right now, Amy, and that's why we're pleading to the community that if anybody knows anything to please step forward," Sanchez Breton said. 

Anyone with information about the stabbing is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.