PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – The family of Miya Marcano received confirmation through a medical examiner Tuesday that the body found Saturday was that of the 19-year-old college student.
“As you can imagine it has been a very difficult day for the family,” their attorney Daryl Washington said.
Orange County investigators found Marcano’s body in a wooded area in Central Florida on Saturday morning, more than a week after the teenager from Pembroke Pines went missing from her Orlando apartment.
Washington said the positive identification took a few days because of the condition of Marcano’s body.
The cause and manner of her death have not been released. Local 10 News has requested an autopsy report but was told it could be 90 days before that is released.
WATCH A REPLAY OF TUESDAY’S NEWS CONFERENCE:
Washington said that the family is exploring its legal options and questions the security of the Arden Villa apartments, where Marcano lived and worked in the leasing office. The sole person of interest in her disappearance and death was a maintenance worker at the complex and accessed her unit with a master key before she vanished, detectives said.
That maintenance worker, 27-year-old Armando Caballero, was found dead by apparent suicide three days after Miya disappeared on Sept. 24.
Washington said Tuesday that the family still hasn’t personally heard from the Arden Villa apartments since her death, which he called “very disappointing” to the family.
Washington added that Caballero had been accused of previous incidents and questioned the apartment’s background checks on him.
“Sad management couldn’t have got a hold of this much sooner,” he said.
Washington said the family is working on funeral plans and added that they plan to start a foundation and aim to change laws regarding maintenance workers entering apartment units.
Marcano was a 2020 graduate of Charles W. Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines and moved to Orlando to attend college.
“This was a vibrant young lady who was living her life,” Washington said. “And her life was taken away from her as a result of the negligence of this apartment complex.”
Tuesday evening, Washington discussed the crime further with Local 10 News’ Bridgette Matter.
“What I can tell you is that this guy had tape around Miya’s wrists, tape around her feet, had tape on her mouth,” he said. “When you talk about it, you really get frustrated.”
Washington said the family does not believe the report of Miya’s disappearance was taken seriously in the beginning.
Now work is being done to create Miya’s Law, to make apartments safer for tenants.
“They are very supportive of this legislation because they don’t want another family to have to go through what they went through,” Washington said.
READ MORE:
Miya Marcano’s family questions security of Arden Villa apartment complex