TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Charges in the murder case of a prominent LGBTQ+ advocate are imminent after detectives handed the results of their investigation over to a grand jury.
Jorge “George” Diaz-Johnston, a doctorate student at Florida State University, was last seen alive on Jan. 3 and reported missing on Jan. 7. He turned up dead on Jan. 8 in a landfill in Jackson County. He was 54.
Diaz-Johnson, who also worked at a law firm, had been renting a home on Alachua Avenue in Tallahassee. His neighbors said police officers responded to the home where there was a car they didn’t recognize.
Deputies arrested Diaz-Johnston’s roommate Steven Yinger, 36, on Jan. 13 in Leon County on unrelated charges, and he is being held in custody with a status hearing scheduled for Monday morning.
Yinger has a lengthy criminal history in Leon County, spanning the last three decades.
Diaz-Johnston and Don Johnston sued the Miami-Dade County Clerk of the Courts for the right to get married and won in 2015. The couple got separated last year.
Diaz-Johnston was the brother of former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and the uncle of Manny Diaz II, the former coach of the University of Miami Hurricanes.
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Please share to help locate this missing person. If you have information regarding Jorge’s whereabouts, please call TPD at 850-891-4200. pic.twitter.com/zSipsk0vKG
— Tallahassee Police (@TallyPD) January 8, 2022
Torres contributed to this report from Miami.
