Body Of 19-Year-Old Miya Marcano Found In Woods Near Suspected Abductor’s Home

Orlando, FL – The Orange County Medical Examiner on Tuesday confirmed that the body found in the woods in Orlando on Saturday was that of the missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina said members of his department’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) found the remains of the college student in a wooded area near the Tymber Skan on the Lake apartment complex, CNN reported.

“A positive identification of a female whose body was recovered in a wooded area on October 2, 2021 has been identified as Miya Marcano,” Orange and Osceola Counties Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Stephany said in a statement released on Oct. 5.

“This case is currently under active law enforcement investigation and any further requests for information, including cause and manner of death, will be deferred to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office,” Stephany added.

Marcano’s body was found about 18 miles west of her home and her purse, containing her identification, was found near her body, CNN reported.

The freshman at Valencia College was last seen alive at about 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 24 at the Arden Villas located in the 3000-block of Arden Villas Boulevard shortly before she was supposed to head to the airport to fly home to Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend, WTVT reported.

When she didn’t arrive at the airport, her family became worried.

They got in the car and headed to Orlando to find her after they couldn’t reach her on the phone, WTVT reported.

When the family arrived at Marcano’s apartment, her cousin said the usually-locked bedroom door was open, there was blood on her pillow, the room was in disarray, and a necklace she wore all the time lay broken on the floor, WPLG reported.

The cousin told reporters that there was evidence that the college student was taken out of her via her bedroom window, but law enforcement officials have not confirmed that detail.

Authorities quickly identified a person of interest in Marcano’s disappearance – 27-year-old Armando Caballero – a maintenance man at the Arden Villas complex where the 19 year old lived and worked, and who had made romantic overtures toward Marcano multiple times and been denied.

Caballero was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sept. 27 at his apartment in the Tymber Skan on the Lake apartment complex in Seminole County near where Marcano’s body was ultimately found, WPLG reported.

“He had demonstrated a romantic interest in Miya. This was repeatedly rebuffed by Miya,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said a press conference that day.

“We now know that a maintenance-issued master key fob which Caballero was known to be in possession of was used to enter Miya’s apartment Friday afternoon at about 4:30,” Sheriff Mina told reporters.

He said that Marcano was scheduled to finish her shift at work at the same time, WESH reported.

Other residents of the complex told WPLG that key fobs like the one Caballero used to enter Marcano’s apartment were new.

A security video of Caballero walking from his car at his own apartment complex on Saturday showed he was carrying a pink blanket and other items that family members said belonged to Marcano, WFTV reported.

Sheriff Mina said that cell phone records indicated that Caballero was “in or near” his apartment nearby where Marcano’s body was found for about 20 minutes between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on the night the college student disappeared, CNN reported.