A body has been identified as missing teenager Miya Marcano.
On the morning of Saturday, October 2, a body was recovered in a wooded area near the Tymber Skan condominiums — and police have now confirmed the body belongs to the 19-year-old.
“A positive identification of a female whose body was recovered in a wooded area on October 2, 2021 has been identified as Miya Marcano,” according to a statement from Orange and Osceola Counties Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Stephany.
“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,” the statement from Tuesday, October 5, read.
Over the weekend,Sheriff John W. Mina announced to the press that the body found at the apartment complex in Orange County, Fl. was believed to belong to Marcano, who was reported missing on September 24.
“Although we are very certain of the identity, the positive identification will have to come from the medical examiner’s office,” Mina said.
On September 27, police officers found Caballero, the main person of interest in the case, to be dead from an apparent suicide.
Marcano was last seen on Friday, September 24, around 5 p.m. at the Arden Villas apartments where she lived.
It was later revealed by authorities that the window to the teenager’s bedroom was unlocked, and that bloodstains were found on her pillow.
“We believe pretty conclusively that Amando Caballero is responsible for this crime and there is not any other person or persons that we are looking for in this case,” the Sheriff said on Saturday.
“Cell phone records showed us that Caballero was in or near the Tymber Skan apartments on Friday eveningbetween eight and nine o’clock,” Mina continued.
However, Caballero, who worked as a maintenance employee at Marcano’s apartment complex, was reportedly traveling between multiple areas in the Orlando area in the days since Marcano was last seen.
His cell phone records located him in a “marshy, wooded area” for about an hour during the morning of September 25.
“I do think that he was trying to throw authorities off the trail by going all over the place, by going to New Smyrna Beach, possibly in an attempt to get away with this before he took his own life,” the Sheriff added.
“As a community, as a sheriff, as a father, obviously we are grieving the loss of Miya,” Mina said. “Again, we can’t imagine the pain and anguish that Miya’s parents, family and loved ones and friends — really our entire community — have gone through and will continue to go through.”
Details regarding the cause of death have not been revealed and an official autopsy has yet to be scheduled.
