MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade police are hoping to finally solve a cold case involving one of “America’s Most Wanted” fugitives.
According to police, Jorge Walter Nunez, aka Jorge Walter Nunez Paz, physically and sexually abused his two daughters.
Police said one of the daughters eventually told their mother about the sexual abuse and, as a result, the father beat his wife to death in 1985.
“The altercation led him to taking a bag of bottles, and he beat her with it, and the next thing I remember is being outside and I remember he was trying to dig … he put her in a bag,” Gloria Hampton told reporters Tuesday.
Hampton said she helped her father dig and she was told to never tell a soul what happened.
“I remember digging and helping him dig, and I remember him trying to put the body in there, and I remember him tossing this bag into the bay,” she said.
A fisherman found the Nilsa Padilla’s dismembered body in a green bag in Key Biscayne, along with the remains of a man who has yet to be identified.
It wasn’t until 2010, however, that Padilla was reported missing by her daughters. In 2011, DNA testing linked Padilla to the remains found in 1985.
An arrest warrant for Jorge Walter Nuñez Paz was issued in 2012, but he remained elusive despite police efforts.
In addition to allegedly killing his wife, Padilla’s two surviving daughters told detectives that they witnessed their father beat their 3-year-old sister named Alicia unconscious on another occasion because she didn’t finish eating her cereal.
“He knocked her unconscious and put her in a bag, and he went outside and put her in the dumpster, and that was the last time I saw my sister,” Gloria Hampton told reporters in Miami Tuesday.
Police said they have no record of the toddler’s death.
Hampton and her surviving sister say they were repeatedly sexually abused by their father and in the late 80′s, a friend of the girls reported Nunez Paz to police for inappropriately touching her during a sleepover.
He was then hauled off to prison and his daughters were put in foster care.
“He was arrested. He served time (and) he was then deported in 2004,” Miami-Dade Police Detective Jonathan Grossman said.
Police believe Nunez Paz could be in Peru living under various alias.
“We believe, and still believe to this day, he may be in Peru,” Grossman said.
For now, the only thing Hampton has to hold on to is a photo of her with her mother and the hope that one day her father will be found and arrested.
Police said Nunez Paz did resurface in Peru, outside of Lima, in 2020, but detectives have not been able to track him down.
Police believe he may also have connections to people in Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Detectives are asking members of the public to call them with any helpful information that could lead to an arrest.
Tipsters can remain anonymous by calling Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.