MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Local 10 News on Tuesday obtained surveillance video showing the moments leading up to the death of a woman whose body was later found in a dumpster behind a Miami Beach apartment building on July 19. Police say she was allegedly killed by her son.
The video shows Elizabeth Caruso entering a hotel lobby after she arrived from New Jersey on July 19 to conduct a welfare check on her 40-year-old son, Anthony Caruso.
That hotel was located across the street from the Blackstone Apartments, located at 800 Washington Ave., where Caruso lived.
6 p.m. report:
Surveillance footage from around 7:05 p.m. that day also shows Anthony Caruso in a hallway, waiting for an elevator in his apartment building.
A little more than two hours later, surveillance from the trash room of the apartment complex shows a man looking into a garbage chute with blood covering the floor and walls.
Police said the man, believed to be Anthony Caruso, was using his phone, presumably to call for help.
Family members had reported not hearing from Elizabeth Caruso for more than six hours, prompting Miami Beach officers to respond.
Police arrived around 9:48 p.m. at Anthony Caruso’s apartment and found blood on the front door and hallway floor.
Detectives said they recovered Elizabeth Caruso’s body from a dumpster on the first floor. Authorities said her neck was severely injured, nearly to the point of decapitation.
They said Anthony Caruso barricaded himself inside the apartment for roughly eight hours before being taken into custody.
The dumpster was later lifted onto a tow truck, covered at the top by a yellow sheet, while evidence markers and items of clothing were collected nearby, according to investigators.
At one point, authorities said firefighters retrieved a towel stuck in a tree as a potential piece of evidence.
“She flew in from out of state to check on her son who we believe to suffer from mental illness,” Miami Beach Police Officer Christopher Bess said at the time.
Jail records show Anthony Caruso, who was on probation at the time of the killing, faces a charge of second-degree murder.
Records show he is being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He also had previous arrests last year for aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery, arson, and criminal mischief.
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