Miya Marcano’s mother hopes Florida lawmakers will support bill

COOPER CITY, – From her home in the British Virgin Islands, Yma Scarbriel said she misses her slain 19-year-old daughter, Miya Marcano, every day. She hopes Florida lawmakers will pass a bill in her memory to help protect lives.

Scarbriel had hoped her daughter would be safe attending Valencia College in Orlando after graduated from Charles W. Flanagan High School in Pembroke Pines.

Marcano was living at the Arden Villas, a gated apartment complex that is about a mile away from the University of Central Florida campus. She also worked at the Arden Villas’ leasing office. Scarbriel reported her missing on Sept. 24 and a search team found her dead on Oct. 2.

Marcano’s loved ones co-founded the Miya Marcano Memorial Fund to support families of missing persons and to advocate for students’ safety. Scarbriel wants to make sure her daughter’s legacy lives on.

Sen. Linda Stewart sponsored the bill. She said had this law been in place, Marcano would still be alive. For more information about how to support the Miya Marcano Law, visit the foundation’s page.

HER DISAPPEARANCE

Her family was alarmed when Marcano didn’t board her Sept. 24 flight to Fort Lauderdale. An aunt said she quickly suspected Armando Caballero, a maintenance worker at Arden Villas who had made several unwanted romantic advances.

Detectives later found Caballero, 27, used a key fob to open her apartment door at 2:14 p.m. and at 4:34 p.m., on Sept. 24, before Marcano used her key fob to enter her apartment at 5:06 p.m.

Detectives believe Caballero drove out of the Arden Villas at 5:52 p.m., returned at 7:11 p.m., and left at 7:38 p.m. About 40 minutes later, deputies said Caballero was in the area of the dilapidated Tymber Skan on the Lake Condominiums for about 20 minutes.

MURDER AND SUICIDE

Unable to reach Marcano, Scarbriel called the police to report her missing about 9:23 p.m. A deputy responded about 10:02 p.m. to the Arden Villas to conduct a welfare check.

Shortly before 5 a.m., on Sept. 25, a deputy met with Marcano’s relatives at the Arden Villas. Police officers and Marcano’s relatives visited Caballero’s apartment in Seminole County, police said.

Detectives believe Caballero left his apartment about 3 p.m. on Sept. 25, and he sent his last text message about 9:35 p.m. Deputies found him dead by suicide about 10:34 a.m., Sept. 27.

A search team found Marcano’s lifeless body about 10:45 a.m., on Oct. 2 in a marshy wooded area in the Tymber Skan property where Caballero had been on the night of Sept. 24.

Detectives said the killer used black tape to bind her hands and feet and to cover her mouth. Deputies said her purse and identification were nearby.

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