MIAMI – Investigators knew someone used a lamp fixture to hide 3 kilos of cocaine, and mailed the lamp from Puerto Rico to Osceola County. This helped them during an ongoing investigation into two murders in Central Florida.
A 2002 forest green Acura, the only one in Florida, and rare 10mm rounds fired at both crime scenes connected the two murders, according to Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma.
Recommended Videos
Juan Cintron, a father, was killed on April 10, in Orange County’s Taft area, and Katherine Guerrero on April 11 after she was abducted in Seminole County and found dead in Osceola County.
“There is clearly a connection here,” Lemma said Friday.
The mother, born in the Dominican Republic, was far from her home and beauty businesses in deep south Miami-Dade County, police said.
Federal agents with the U.S. Marshals Service, Homeland Security, and Drug Enforcement Administration worked with deputies from Osceola, Orange, and Seminole counties to solve the mystery.
Cintron, also known as Juan Luis Cintron Garcia, was a tow truck driver. He had towed the forest green Acura later involved in Guerrero’s murder. The tow was over illegal parking on March 19 in Orange County, He was 39.
A witness recorded a video showing an armed kidnapper jumping out of the green Acura before abducting Guerrero, also known as Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas.
Detectives were suspicious of Guerrero’s husband, Miguel Aguasvivas.
“I think he knows a lot more than what he shared,” Lemma said during a news conference, adding that Aguasvivas is not a murder suspect.
On April 14, deputies arrested Deputy Francisco Estrella in Orange County. The deputy’s wife was allegedly a childhood friend of Aguasvivas and Estrella was accused of misusing his position to get him information about the investigation.
The lamp fixture with the cocaine came into play when federal and local law enforcement met Monicsabel Romero-Soto, who showed up with a baby at a house in Osceola County to pick it up.
U.S. Homeland Security agents arrested Romero-Soto, 27, on April 17. Seminole deputies searched the home where Romero-Soto lived with her boyfriend, Giovany Crespo, and reported finding cash, fentanyl, and a firearm.
Investigators believe Guerrero communicated with Crespo, also known as Giovany Joel Crespo Hernandez, during her trip to Central Florida.
According to Lemma, Guerrero’s husband reported she left South Florida to visit family in Central Florida, and her brother Luis Guerrero later told detectives Crespo told him she was there to deliver “money and other stuff for a friend.”
Investigators also connected Jordanish “Jordan” Torres-Garcia to the purchase of the green Acura and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him on April 19. He had an active felony warrant for weapons possession.
“His phone number is matching the phone number that was given with the person who purchased the green Acura,” Lemma said.
Detectives suspect Torres-Garcia, 28, was the gunman in the witness’s kidnapping video before Guerrero vanished.
“He is wanted for gun charges out of Puerto Rico,” Lemma said during a news conference on Friday adding that he was accused of violating his probation.
Lemma said Torres-Garcia’s Facebook profile photo showed him wearing the same mask and outfit that the kidnapper was wearing before the murder.
“It’s incredibly frightening to watch the boldness of this suspect, this perpetrator getting out of the car, wearing a hood, carrying a weapon in broad daylight, getting in the vehicle,” Lemma said about the video.
Prosecutors have yet to file murder charges in the cases.
“The direct connection between ‘Jordan’ and Katherine has not been established,” Lemma said.
Estrella, 33, the deputy arrested, was facing charges of interception of wire, oral, or electronic communication; disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communication; disclosure or use of confidential criminal justice information; unlawful use of a two-way communication device; accessing computer or electronic devices without authorization or exceeding authorization.
Romero-Soto, 27, was facing a cocaine trafficking charge in Osceola County. Crespo Hernandez and Torres-Garcia were not facing charges for the murders either, but Lemma described them as persons of interest.
Lemma said investigators were still working to put all the “pieces of the puzzle” together as detectives get more access to data and records.
“We feel incredibly comfortable with the evidence that we will be able to collect,” Lemma said.
Related reports
Related news conferences