ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) – On Tuesday, the chief medical examiner of Orange and Osceola Counties officially identified a body found over the weekend as missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano.
A body, at that time only believed to be Marcano, was found in the area of Tymber Skan near the Lake Condominiums in Orange County on Saturday.
“A positive identification of a female whose body was recovered in a wooded area on October 2, 2021, has been identified as Miya Marcano,” the medical examiner said. “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.”
Family attorney Daryl Washington said the family has been disappointed to continue to not hear from the owners of the Arden Villas Apartment complex.
The Valencia College student was missing since Sept. 24 after she was last seen at Arden Villas Apartment complex which is where she lived and worked. The building’s maintenance worker, Armando Caballero, was named the prime suspect.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Caballero expressed a romantic interest in Marcano which was repeatedly denied by the teenager.
He had a universal key that could let him in any unit. The maintenance master key fob that Caballero used was swiped to enter Miya’s apartment 30 minutes before she was set to get off of work.
Washington claimed that if a background check was conducted on Caballero, it was not as extensive as it should have been.
“A basic background check would show this guy had some hits on his record,” Washington said.
Washington questioned whether the apartment management made any reference checks.
Washington says he’s learned apartment management had an ability to electronically track the universal key fob Caballero used to enter Marcano’s unit, but the manager didn’t know he was there, not understanding how the equipment worked.
“You are giving somebody access — free access to somebody’s apartment. So again, that’s something that is very hurtful to the family,” Washington said.
University of Central Florida students Julia Veiga and Eryn Rutherford have launched a petition, now with more than 18,000 signatures, to enhance security at the apartment complex.
Family members of Marcano and their attorney held a news conference over the weekend calling on justice and taking aim at the apartment complex who they say should have protected the 19-year-old.
“I can’t even put into words how we’re feeling right now,” Marcano’s cousin Caili Sue said. “As a family, I feel defeated, I feel like I failed my cousin, and I don’t know how we’re going to get through this.”
Washington did not say that the family has yet taken action against Arden Villas, but he said he believed they were “negligent.” He added the apartment complex has not returned their messages.
