Woman who blacked out, accused of murdering gym friend, granted bond to go to rehab

Daniela Tabares gave Yvonne Serrano ride home from bar, next morning found shot in driveway

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – A judge granted bond to a woman who is accused of killing a friend from the gym where they both worked out. Yvonne Serrano, 55, is charged with manslaughter in the death of 21-year-old Daniela Tabares who offered the woman a ride home from World of Beer in Coconut Creek last November.

Serrano, an inmate in the Paul Rein Detention Center in Pompano Beach, could now post $20,000 bond to be released from jail, despite the state attorney’s pleas that Serrano could be a flight risk.

Serrano’s bond hearing was last Friday. Serrano’s attorneys petitioned for the mother of four to get bond in order to go to a rehabilitation center for years of alcohol abuse.

“Please deny her any rights,” Daniela’s mother told Broward Judge Barbara Duffy over video conference as she broke down in tears.

Last November, surveillance video from the Coconut Creek bar shows Serrano and Tabares around 1:25 a.m. The two were seen leaving the bar together after Tabares offered to give Serrano a ride home, witnesses said.

A text message recovered from the phone of Tabares’ friend during the investigation confirmed that the she did give Serrano a ride home, detectives said.

At about 2 a.m., Tabares and Serrano entered the Maplewood Isle community in Coral Springs, guardhouse records showed.

The next morning, Seranno called 911 from her Coral Springs home to report that a woman was dead inside a car in her driveway.

Arriving officers questioned Serrano, who said she called 911 immediately upon finding the body and that she was on her way to the gym for an early morning workout when she discovered the body.

According to Serrano’s account of the evening to detectives, she didn’t remember leaving World of Beer and she woke up in her bed with no recollection of how she got home.

Serrano was arrested and charged with murder, which was then reduced to manslaughter. Now she is being granted bond.

Carolina Miller, Tabares’ friend said: “We cannot believe . . . we cannot grasp, we don’t understand, we are speechless. Daniela’s life was taken and this person is going to a rehab place?”

Daniela’s mother told the judge: “This lady not only took my daughter’s life. She also took away my life.”

Once Serrano posts the $20,000 bond, which she only needs to put $2,000 down to be released, she’ll be taken to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Deerfield Beach. She will be wearing an ankle monitor, but the rehabilitation center does not have around the clock supervision for Serrano.

Serrano, originally from Panama, surrendered her United States passport upon her arrest. When authorities asked her where her expired Panamanian passport was, she said she didn’t know.


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