Prosecutors after convictions in Miami: Trio had eyes duct-taped when left for dead; 1 ‘miraculously survived’

James Daniels and Fred Rudolph await sentencing

A federal jury convicted James Daniels, left, and Frederick Rudolph, center, on Tuesday in Miami for three kidnappings and two murders in 2020. Herbert Barr, right, had already pleaded guilty on Nov. 26. (FDOC, GOOGLE STREET VIEW, SATELLITE VIEW)

MIAMI – A man who detectives found about four years ago behind an abandoned house in Opa-locka had his eyes duct-taped after he was tortured, shot, and left for dead with two others. The men who detectives say couldn’t kill him are feeling the weight of justice in Miami.

A group of thieves ambushed him, Johan Gonzalez and Osmar Oliva at a truck yard east of the Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport. After the torture, the thieves pushed them in and out of a rental van before shooting them in the head and leaving them to die in a backyard near a dead-end street, police said.

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According to the prosecutors in the federal cases that followed, two victims died on Dec. 5, 2020 — and “one miraculously survived.” Detective Angel Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, identified the slain men two days later as Gonzalez, 26, and Oliva, 50.

Investigators later found that the masked killers were allegedly after the victims’ drugs, jewelry, and cash, according to prosecutors. Detectives identified them as three convicted felons: James Daniels, also known as Ernest Cook and Winston Tafari; Frederick Rudolph, also known as Fred Rodolf; and Herbert Barr.

Miami-Dade detectives investigated the murders of Osmar Oliva and Johan Gonzalez Quesada in Opa-locka. (MDPD)

MDPD worked with Opa-locka police officers where Gonzalez and Oliva were fatally shot at Northwest 18 Avenue and Rutland Street — steps away from an empty lot and a pond with easy access. According to Rodriguez, Miami-Dade fire rescue personnel responded to the crime scene, found the survivor who had also been “tied, beaten and shot” and took him to a “local trauma unit.”

Oliva and Gonzalez, both fathers, were shot in the head, police said. Records show Oliva, the owner of a freight shipping company, was arrested and accused of unloading a stolen cargo in 2007. Gonzalez was also arrested in a 2019 case involving stolen cargo.

Barr, 56, pleaded guilty to kidnapping on Nov. 26. On Tuesday, after a federal trial in Miami, a jury found Daniels, 59; and Rudolph, 69, guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, two counts of kidnapping resulting in death, and three counts of kidnapping. Their sentencing is on March 10 before U.S. District Court Judge Roy K. Altman.

FBI Miami, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and MDPD worked on the case through the South Florida High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, which targets local drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.


About the Author
Andrea Torres headshot

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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