Miya Marcano update – Family thanks supporters on Instagram & awaits autopsy as video shows fight with Armando Caballero

‘DIDN’T THINK IT WAS SERIOUS’

Caballero claimed he showed up at the apartment complex because he had been talking to Tati about Miya’s disappearance.

“In the first few hours we didn’t think it was serious,” he adds.

“Maybe they’re hanging out. Well, they got this place right here.

“They go downtown. I don’t know maybe her phone’s off. I don’t know where she is.”

‘NO ONE KNOWS’

At the beginning of the video Caballero claims to be on the phone with this co-worker, who the female relative says “no one knows.”

“You keep mentioning Tati but no one knows Tati. Her roommates don’t even know Tati. She’s an employee but you keep saying Tati is a friend and that you’ve all hung out together” she adds.

“No one here knows Tati. All her other friends showed up. Her closest friends that live in the complex were all here early on. No one knows Tati. Only you.”

‘DON’T BEAT ME UP’

“I understand that. I respect that, that’s y’all’s family, but until we figure out what’s going on just don’t beat me up,” replies Caballero with his hands in the air in a defensive gesture.

Then a man presumed to be another of Miya’s relatives denies anyone is “beating up” Caballero, but questions why he would “put himself in the middle right here.”

“If I’m guilty why would I come here?” asks the maintenance worker and prime suspect after saying “we’re concerned.”

When Miya’s family asks why Caballero wasn’t concerned about Miya’s disappearance “hours ago,” he claims “we just found out” about it.

It appears that by “we,” Caballero means he and an alleged co-worker named Tati.

VIDEO OF CABALLERO DENIES ALLEGATIONS

Caballero then denies the relative’s allegations about offering his life savings, claiming “I never said that.”

“We’re gonna get a police report to pull your phone records if that’s the case,” the relative fires back, adding “You’re fascinated with Miya.”

“It’s not only from one side. Don’t try to make this like I’m a stalker,” replies Caballero, who was found dead from a suspected suicide days after the video was filmed.

“It takes two but obviously she’s missing so we’re talking to you,” replies the unidentified woman.

MIYA HAD TAPE AROUND HER WRISTS AND MOUTH

Family attorney Daryl Washington confirmed to WESH 2 that Marcano had tape around her wrists and feet, as well as tape on her mouth, when her body was discovered.

BOX CUTTER FOUND

Miya Marcano’s cause of death is still not known after the family’s attorney revealed that a “box cutter” was found in her apartment.

Family attorney Daryl Washington confirmed to WESH 2 that the Marcano family was sure the box cutter did not belong to Miya when they searched her apartment after the reported kidnapping.

LAWYER STATEMENT ON ARDEN

He continued: “This is a loss of life that could have easily been prevented.

“I think you have young ladies all across the county going to sleep at night in fear, knowing that there are apartment complexes giving predators free access to their apartments.

“No person should have to pay to live in fear.”

LAWYER STATEMENT ON ARDEN

It comes as the Marcano family is speaking to Arden Villas residents to compile a case of negligence against the building’s owners.

Daryl K. Washington, the Marcano family’s attorney, exclusively told The Sun: “The family just wishes that Arden Villas would have taken the proper steps to ensure Miya’s safety and all others at the apartment complex.

“We know [Arden Villas] claims they conducted a background check on [Caballero] and stated nothing came back on it.

“We find that hard to believe and we want to know what company they utilized and why they didn’t come up with any hits on the person.”

CHILLING VIDEO

Maintenance worker Armando Caballero is seen in the video denying he’s a “stalker” after one of Miya’s relatives claims “there’s evidence of [his] obsession” with the Florida college student.

The footage was recorded at the Arden Villas apartment complex in Orlando at around 3.25am on September 25, a day after Miya was last seen alive, according to Click Orlando.

It begins with 27-year-old Caballero speaking with an Orange County police officer before being confronted by Miya’s family.

“You have sent obsessive texts to Miya. We have all seen the texts,” the unidentified female relative says.

“You talked about giving her your life savings. You Cash App-ed her money and you claim that you weren’t in touch.”

MOTHER HOLDS MIYA’S TEDDY BEAR

Miya’s grandmother said Miya’s mother was holding the teenager’s teddy bear, while attending a vigil on September 30.

CABALLERO SEEMED ‘QUITE NERVOUS’

Miya’s cousin Caili Sue told The Sun in an exclusive interview that he seemed “quite nervous,” and claimed that he last saw Miya at 3pm on September 24.

Police later issued a warrant for Caballero’s arrest and found him hanging from a garage at a different apartment complex in Seminole County in an apparent suicide.

‘SIGNS OF A STRUGGLE’

Local authorities believe Caballero entered Miya’s apartment at around 4.30pm on the day she was reported missing, a half-hour before she was scheduled to finish work.

When the apartment was later searched, the door to the bedroom had been blocked, the bedroom window was unlocked, and blood was found on a pillow.

Miya’s father Marcon wrote on Instagram that her apparent showed “signs of a struggle in her apartment – and she may be in danger.”

DARK AND SEEDY

The apartment complex where Miya Marcano lived, worked, and vanished from is “dark and seedy” and maintenance workers would often enter occupants’ homes without their permission, angry residents claim.

Residents at the Arden Villas complex, who are mainly made up of young students, now say they’re living in terror and claim that Miya’s death could’ve been prevented if management had taken alleged prior resident concerns more seriously when alarms were first raised.

WHEN WAS MIYA MARCANO’S BODY FOUND?

On October 2, 2021, Orange County authorities confirmed they had found a body they believed to be Miya’s. It was later confirmed to be hers.

Crews say they found her body at Tymber Skan apartments, 17 miles from the Arden Villas Apartment complex where she worked.

MIYA’S FAMILY MOURNS

Following the discovery of her body, Marcano’s family then spoke out saying they feel “helpless” while waiting for her body to be released.

“I think everyone is still in shock,” Marcano’s cousin Caili Sue said. “We are kind of lost waiting for them to release her body. We feel helpless while we sit here waiting.

“We are disappointed because there was a little glimmer of hope that maybe it wasn’t her.”

Caili previously told The Sun the family had been left “devastated” by her “preventable” death, having earlier voiced confidence and hope that she would be found alive.

MIYA’S BODY FOUND NEAR ‘DILAPIDATED’ APARTMENT

The body of Miya Marcano was apparently found near the dilapidated Tymber Skan apartments on Saturday morning.

Overgrown fields, piles of trash, and abandoned buildings line the area where the remains were found, images from the scene show.

The complex was built in 1972 and once was home to working-class families.

However, the site has long been plagued by gun violence, drug dealing, fires, foreclosures and disrepair so severe that much of it was condemned as “unfit for human occupancy” several years ago, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

FAMILY SEEKS JUSTICE

Miya Marcano’s family members are accusing the management at Arden Villas of negligence.

Armando Caballero, the prime suspect in Miya’s disappearance and death, possessed a master key fob that gave him access to Miya’s apartment.

Armando was found dead of suicide.

WOMEN ENCOURAGED TO PURCHASE DOOR STOPPERS

As the disappearance and death of Miya Marcano made headlines, women are speaking out, saying they feel helpless and fearful that the same thing could happen to them.

One Twitter user recommended that women who live alone should purchase a door stopper to prevent break-ins.

MAKEARDENSAFE

“We are a community of college kids,” it reads. “Miya Marcano was only 19. Since Miya first went missing, Arden Villas has done little to reassure us of our safety.”

Veiga told The Sun that she and a group of other residents, known collectively as MakeArdenSafe, have been compiling complaints made about Caballero and other maintenance workers at the complex that were voiced in the months leading up to Miya’s death.

“We’ve been receiving complaints from residents past and present about the maintenance team and general security at Arden Villas,” she said.

“As more accounts of similar things keep coming in we’ve noticed that clearly, this is not a new thing for this company.”

BUILDING STATEMENT

Arden Villas has not directly addressed the claims made as part of the petition.

In a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday, the company said it had received “several complaints” and acknowledged the petition, adding that it will be responding to the concerns in “a more expansive manner in the coming days.”

Still, the petition accuses Arden Villas of “gross negligence and utter disrespect” over a series of “years.”

CHANGE.ORG PETITION PART 2

“For years, residents have reported inappropriate behavior of the maintenance men that enter their apartments,” the petition reads.

“Their reviews are littered with evidence of [this]. Yet they did nothing, and now Miya is dead.”

CHANGE.ORG PETITION

Veiga and Rutherford have launched a Change.org petition, which claims Arden Villas is “responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Miya Marcano.”

The petition, which has so far amassed nearly 35,000 signatures, also contains a list of demands and they say,  if they don’t receive a response to them by Friday, they will be filing a class-action lawsuit.

The group also wants the option to break their leases because they are “angry and scared” and believe they shouldn’t be forced to live at the complex any longer, Veiga says.

RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT

Two such residents, University of Central Florida students Julia Veiga and Eryn Rutherford, are leading a charge against Arden Villas, threatening legal action if they fail to substantially overhaul security at the complex.

Speaking to The Sun, Veiga said: “This is a community that’s advertised to college students as a safe place to live, but as we’ve found it that’s not the case.

“In fact, it’s blatantly obvious. If you had the chance to walk around our apartment complex at night it’s dark and it’s seedy.

“Changes are so desperately needed. As Miya’s case has sadly shown, the changes really could be a matter of life and death for other residents – and we need to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

DARK AND SEEDY

The apartment complex where Miya Marcano lived, worked, and vanished from is “dark and seedy” and maintenance workers would often enter occupants’ homes without their permission, angry residents claim.

Residents at the Arden Villas complex, who are mainly made up of young students, now say they’re living in terror and claim that Miya’s death could’ve been prevented if management had taken alleged prior resident concerns more seriously when alarms were first raised.

MIYA’S FAMILY IS CRUSHED

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, their attorney Daryl K. Washington said: “Obviously the family is still very hurt and crushed by the news of Miya’s death. Miya was the glue that held the entire family together.

“What makes this so very difficult to accept is that Miya’s death was totally preventable. That’s what makes it very hard. She was a vibrant young lady trying to pursue her dreams,” he said.