True Crime with Kendall Rae - She Rejected Him so He Killed Her?! The Murder of College Student Miya Marcano

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

What happens when you take every safety precaution and it’s still not enough to keep predators away? College student Miya Marcano and her family knew that a maintenance worker at her apartment complex was a weird, possessive man, and they tried to keep him away. But things took a turn when he used the complex’s master key to get into her apartment. Miya Marcano Foundation: https://miyamarcanofdn.com/ Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign...  Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Smalls- For 50% off your first order, head to Smalls.com/KENDALLRAE snd use code KENDALLRAE. Rocket Money Quince Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hey everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today and if you are new then welcome. I'm so happy to have you. So guys today I'm going to be telling you about the heartbreaking case of Mia Marcano. Now her story is absolutely one that I think needs to be talked about. It's as sad as it is angering, but there's so much to take away from her story. So many valuable lessons that we can learn actually from me and what she did. And I think also what her family has done in the wake of this tragedy is so impressive,

so remarkable, and I really wanna highlight everything that they have accomplished so far. Every case that I cover is so hard to talk about, but it's especially hard to talk about younger people whose lives were just getting started when they were taken away from them in such tragic, evil ways. Mia was someone who I am confident was going to do amazing things in her life. And the fact that it was all taken away from her and her family when she was so young is

just devastating. I mean, there's no other words, especially when you consider the fact that she really did everything right. She took every precaution to keep herself safe and it still wasn't enough to protect her from the monster that ended her life. And I think when you guys hear the details of this one, man,

you are going to feel pissed off. As you can already tell, I have a lot to say in this case. We have a lot to go over. So I'm going to go ahead and just jump into things here, starting with telling you a little bit more about Mia, which I felt really lucky to learn about Mia. And there was a lot of information out there about her, which was really special to really understand what an incredible human she really was. Mia Iman Meiling Marconno was born on April 26th, 2002 in Pembroke Pines, Florida, to her parents Marlon Marconno Sr. and Ima Scabriel.

She also had one brother, Marlon Jr., who everyone called Munchie. And from a young age, Mia was just incredible. She was born with most beautiful and bright grayish-green eyes, and she had a sense of calm to her that made her so easy to love. And when I say that I really mean it, Mia was so very loved by everyone in her life. And like I said there was really so much information out there about Mia because her family has shared a lot really wanting to you know maintain her legacy

and remind people that she was more than just the story of the end of her life. Her family has shared so many images and so many incredible stories that I really felt like I was able to get a strong sense of who she was. And who Mia was, was really nothing short of amazing. Her loved ones described her as a Jane of all trades

because Mia truly did it all. She loved modeling, pageantry, cheerleading, dancing, horseback riding, traveling, and so much more. And if you're watching this episode, I'm sure you can already tell by the photos that Mia had this energetic magnetism to her. That's the only way you can really describe it. That really pulled people in. And when people were around her, they really couldn't help but be drawn

to whatever it was that she was doing. What's funny though, is I think Mia could kind of be described as someone who is an outgoing introvert, which is kind of how I would describe myself. But basically that means that for as outgoing and bubbly and energetic that she was, she also really had a shy side to her. On stage, she could sort of turn it on

and be this energetic person. But when it was time to settle down, she really carried an innate sense of calm that she exhibited from birth. And one super cool thing I wanted to share with you is that from a young age, Mia got involved with the Miami Carnival. Again, if you're watching this episode,

you can just see in the photos, they really do a good job of painting a picture of the spirit that Mia had and the fun side of her Mia loved the Carnival and competed in the junior carnival pageant and even won the title of Queen and to me one of my favorite things about researching these cases especially because so much of the research is so dark and depressing is Learning these little details about the victims. I mean, what really made them who they are? I loved getting to know some of these small things about Mia that made her special, and

I'm happy that I get to share them with you. Another thing that I found out about Mia's upbringing that I thought was really cool is she actually got to do quite a bit of traveling, and that was ultimately because her parents split up when she was young. And what's interesting is that she ended up living in the British Virgin Islands and then the US Virgin Islands with her mom. And then by the time that she was in middle school, she was back in South Florida with her dad. So she really got a variety of cultures and got to experience a lot in her life, which makes me really happy considering her life was cut short in the end. And obviously your parents getting divorced is not ideal in most situations.

I don't know how Mia felt about it. It can be really hard, especially as a child, but it is kind of a cool silver lining that she got to see so many other places and travel from a young age because of that. And another thing that Mia really loved was helping others. Whether that was her family, her friends, or even complete strangers, Mia loved being a helpful, caring person to pretty much anyone that she came across. She really wanted to make sure that people around her were taken care of. And that's why it wasn't a surprise to anyone when they found out that Mia wanted to become a nurse one day. Very fitting for her. So after graduating from Flanagan High School in 2020,

Mia was accepted into her dream college, the University of Central Florida where she initially pursued a degree in nursing. Now in her sophomore year, she decided to transfer to Valencia College and changed her major to sports medicine, but her goals were ultimately the same. She wanted to help others by becoming an orthopedic surgeon. And for any non-Florida residents, I just wanted to provide some context that both UCF and Valencia College are in the Greater Orlando area. So making the switch

wasn't necessarily some, you know, drastic move. In 2021, Mia was living in Orange County, Florida, which was a fairly convenient three and a half hour drive away from her dad who was living in Orange County, Florida, which was a fairly convenient three and a half hour drive away from her dad who was living in Fort Lauderdale. Specifically, she was living in the Arden Villas apartment complex, which becomes really important to the story. And this was a pretty popular choice for other students in the area. So lots of young people living there. And like a lot of dads do, Mia's father, Marlin, helped her move into the apartment complex and he was, you you know really excited for her and she was obviously very excited But of course like most fathers he was concerned about his daughter's safety and despite the security measures that the apartment complex

Promised its residents. He wanted to take it a step further So he made sure that Mia was equipped with plenty of mace for when she walked alone at night Which is pepper spray for those of you who don't know. And he also purchased and installed locks for her windows to prevent anyone from trying to break in. And again, all of this goes back to what I was saying in the beginning of the episode that makes this case so frustrating

is Mia and her family really did everything right. They made sure that they took all precautions, really tried to think through her safety, like went above and beyond the extra mile, you could say, that most people wouldn't take to make sure that she was safe. And for none of that to have been enough in the end is just, ugh, it's so beyond upsetting because obviously the reason I'm telling you Mia's story today is because those things weren't enough in the end. And before I explain what I mean by that, we need to

talk about Mia's work situation at the time of her death. Now, like I just mentioned, Mia was living in the Arden Villas apartment complex, but it wasn't just where she was living. It's also where she was working. On June 29th, 2021, Mia was hired by the Priest Company to work in the front leasing office at Arden Villas and for the most part it was a pretty good gig for her. I mean she was a student and having a job sometimes can be difficult to juggle so the fact that she was able to work where she lived definitely made that balance a lot easier. And sometimes she did work

less than ideal hours like Friday nights or over the weekends. But again, for the most part, it seemed to be not too bad. That is with the exception of one coworker, a guy named Armando Caballero. And I'm sure a lot of you can already guess where this is going, but Armando wanted to be more than just coworkers. He wanted to date Mia and

she wanted nothing to do with that. But despite her repeated attempts to reject his advances, Armando just wouldn't take no for an answer and his text messages to her have been described as obsessive and I would say that is very spot on. One message reads, I know I come off strong and crazy, but I was literally feeling you drift away. It bothered me because a bond so natural like we had is not common. And he would send messages to her like this all the time,

clearly trying to convince her that they weren't meant to be together. And at one point he was even saying that he wanted to give her his life savings. So he actually cash-apped her $600, which when she got that, she immediately just sent it back because she wasn't interested in him and didn't want to give him the wrong idea. Now situations like this where there is someone pursuing you and you're not interested, but they're not taking no for an answer is sadly pretty common. I'm sure there are many of you out there who have experienced this.

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to others in your life. Mia let people know about Armando. She told other coworkers, she told her family, she told friends that this guy was acting this way and it obviously was creeping her out. And I think even in a situation where you may not feel your life is in danger, it is always important to let people in your life know what's going on,

especially when there's some creepy individual who you just get that gross feeling about. People need to know that because it unfortunately didn't save her life, but it helped greatly in the investigation. And it's just, it's such an important thing that she did that I think more people should remember to do. I'm going to explain this more, but yeah, a huge reason that police were able to figure out Armando was involved in Mia's murder was because people knew about him and told the police, you know, look into this guy,

which I'm getting ahead of myself. I will get more into that. But I think it's just such a valuable lesson that we can take away from Mia's story because had Mia kept this a secret, maybe didn't think it was that big of a deal and just didn't mention it to anyone. It's possible that it would have taken longer to connect her murder to him or possible. He may have even gotten away with it. Unlikely, but still it was hugely helpful when it came to investigating this case. But that sadly

brings me to September 24th, 2021. It was a Friday and rather than staying at home that weekend Mia had fun plans to fly down to Fort Lauderdale, which as I mentioned before was where her dad was living. And the plan was to attend the Miami Carnival, which I've already mentioned, she loved going to, she loved being a part of that. It's something that she had done every year and never would have missed. The thing is though,

she had to book a pretty late flight that day because she was actually working from one to five that evening and couldn't leave until obviously her shift ended. And we do know that she did make it to work that afternoon. There's actually surveillance footage from Arden Villas that captures Mia leaving her apartment and walking towards the front leasing office and after work she can be seen headed back in the same direction and god it is always just so eerie to see surveillance footage of people in their last moments. And these are the last images that

have been made available to the public from her movements that day. Because after this, after she gets off work, Mia goes missing. At 9 23 p.m. after she stopped responding to her family's text messages and after they learned that she didn't board her flight, her mom called the Orange County Sheriff's Office and asked that they perform a wellness check. Orange County Sheriff's Office, this line is being recorded. This is Operator Winstead. How may I help you? Hi, good night. I'm calling to find out if I can have a wellness check, please. 20 minutes later, at 9.43 p.m., a sheriff's deputy was dispatched to Arden Villas, and

at 10.02 p.m., he arrived to perform that wellness check. But when it came to doing this wellness check, things did not go as smoothly or quite frankly, as professionally as Mia's family would have hoped. According to a lawsuit filed later on, which I will explain, the responding deputy failed to treat Mia's apartment as a crime scene, despite obvious warning signs that a crime had been committed.

For starters, when this deputy arrived on scene, he was ready to just walk away and not perform the wellness check when nobody answered the door, which is not how this works. And Mia's mom had to practically beg him to just stay there until Mia's roommate returned to let him in, which luckily her roommate did return right around that time and she was able to let him in. But the first red flag that he completely ignored was that Mia's room, her bedroom door, was locked. So because of this, he decided to go around back and push through the window to see if he could find her that way, which brings me to red flag number two. Mia's window was unlocked, but the thing is Mia always kept her window locked. So the fact that it was unlocked meant something had to be

seriously wrong. And this was something that even her roommate knew that the window was always locked and she told the deputy about this. So he knew then and buckle up for this part because it is maddening, but he decided to let Mia's roommate enter her bedroom through the window. And when she did, she alerted him to several very concerning things, all in which he ignored. Inside her room, there was a white bookshelf that had been propped up against the door underneath the doorknob as if to try to prevent anyone from coming in. I mean, obviously that's what it was there for. Hence why the deputy thought that the door was locked was actually this bookcase holding it into place. So that's big, big red flags, right? I mean, anyone would see that and think something bad is going on here.

I think to anyone that consumes true crime content, but even anyone who really doesn't, something like that just screams crime scene. But apparently, this deputy didn't really think so. And if you're not convinced that it was a crime scene, there's more. On top of Mia's room being messy, which was super out of character for her, there were also several pieces of broken jewelry, a box cutter, her favorite teddy bear left behind, and most notably a bloody pillow on her bed. So the alarm bells should be going off for any deputy right? This is clearly a crime scene. But nope, this deputy decided to leave. He was aware of all of these things, her roommate told him everything, and the dude just left.

He did make an initial incident report, but he never notified the criminal investigations unit, which meant that in those very first crucial hours, Mia was considered a voluntary missing person instead of a missing and endangered person. And unfortunately, it gets worse because at 1235 PM, so just about two hours later, this deputy who is named Deputy Polino was called back to the scene by a security guard that worked for Arden Villas. And this security guard, which hats off to him, he tells Deputy Polino that he believes that there's a serious problem here and a major cause for concern. And Deputy Polino basically dismissed

what this guy was saying, was like, whatever about your concerns, and even ignored him when he tried to hand over some potentially major evidence. I guess the security guard had told Deputy Polino that he had lifted some fingerprints with tape off of, I'm guessing the window and he wanted you know to hand them over and deputy Polino just told him to hang on to them just

in case they needed them later and kind of smirked at him I mean really just like whatever dude you're a security guard basically and not only that he then proceeds to never mention this potential evidence in any kind of report. And then he also made it clear to the security guard that Mia's disappearance was not a big priority for him because she wasn't elderly or disabled. Yeah. Which it is pretty obvious that Mia was not a big priority for him considering everything that he failed to do and just didn't really seem to care to do.

But luckily for Mia's family sitting around and doing nothing was never an option. They knew that something was wrong. So they left in the middle of the night and drove up to Orange County. And Mia's mom was actually still living in St. Thomas. So she got on a flight and didn't arrive until later on the 25th.

But for those who were living in Fort Lauderdale, they were able to arrive in just a few hours. And the first one to arrive to the scene was Mia's aunt, Simone, and you guys, right off the bat, she had a super creepy interaction with Armando. Apparently he went up to her and she didn't know who he was, so she very plainly just asked him, you know, hey, who are you?

And he said, I'm the maintenance guy. I heard you were looking for me, which is super weird if you ask me. Then Mia's dad arrived and instantly had a gut-sinking feeling that something bad had happened to his daughter and that Armando was responsible. I mean, talk about parental intuition. Because the thing is Armando didn't even live at Ardenvilla's and had no reason to be at Ardenvilla's right then. So the fact that he was there at 3.50 a.m. as the maintenance worker was just not right. Plus he also had injuries to his face and hand to indicate that he had been involved in

some type of struggle. So at 3.52 a.m. Mia's dad calls the police again and asks them to come back and do a proper investigation to the disappearance of his daughter. And just guess who then came to the scene for now a third time. That's right, deputy doesn't give a shit Paulino. And it took this dude an hour to actually show up. And even then he didn't show really any interest in actually investigating this case. He did talk to Armando, but really nothing came out of that.

And he basically just confirmed that yes, at one point he did have romantic interest in Mia, but she wasn't interested and the two of them just became friends and were cordial. That was basically it. And as for when he last saw her, well, he claims it was around 3 p.m. while they were both working,

but he said that that was all he knew. And Deputy Polino didn't seem to push him for anything else. The family even pointed out that Armando had a screwdriver, a phone case, and a mysterious blanket in the backseat of his car. But Deputy Polino's response to this information was literally, thank you. That's it. Thank you. And I know that to some of you that might seem pretty insignificant, but when a person's life is at stake, anything that stands out to a family member, especially should absolutely be taken into serious consideration.

And obviously I know that Paulino couldn't just open his car and look inside. He needed to get a search warrant, but it's not like he even tried. I mean, Armando was still there. He could have just asked him to take a look inside of his car like he even tried. I mean, Armando was still there. He could have just asked him to take a look inside of his car and he did it. Have you ever had a time where you started a free trial of something, a free subscription or maybe an app, something like that, and you forgot to cancel it.

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Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. That's rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. Once again, rocketmoney.com slash Kendall Rae. And eventually there was actually a heated exchange between Mia's family and Armando that was caught on camera. And guess who just stood there and did nothing? Ding ding ding, Deputy Dumbass, Deputy Polino.

Let's take a sudden. The roommates don't even know Tati. You've been sleeping since 10 o'clock. You keep saying Tati is a friend. And all of a sudden you're showing up here at 4 o'clock in the morning looking for me. Because me and Tati were conversating about it until I finally, it came up. Okay, but Tati is someone. Should I go and see if I see anything? No one knows Tati. That's my whole thing. Tati is in a glory here. Not even the roommate knows Tati.

She's an employee, but you keep saying Tati is a friend and that you've all hung out together. No one here knows Tati. All her other friends showed up. Her closest friends that live in the complex were all here with us early on. No one knows Tati. Only you, whoever Tati is, and Tati's on the phone, she shouldn't even be on the phone right now. As of right now, you have sent obsessive texts to Mia. We have all seen the texts. You talked about giving her your life savi

her money and you claim t her. It's our tracks. As gonna get a police report records if that's the ca of obsession. You're fas from my side. So don't try to make this. No one. No one saying that it takes. So we're talking to you who's been going back and forth. That is your family. But until we

figure out what's going on, just don't beat me up. Nobody's being guilty. You put yourself in the middle right here. You bought yourself over here because we're concerned. You're concerned. Why weren't you concerned hours ago? I just found out. All right, cool, no problem. In the first few hours.

So how did Tati find out? We didn't think it was serious. I don't even know how Tati found out. Somebody's missing and you don't think it's serious. Someone that. Maybe they're hanging out. They got this place right here. They go downtown.

I don't know, Maybe her phone's off. I don't know where she can use somebody's phone and call her dad. I can owe her grandmother somebody. She was supposed to show up for a flight and maybe show up. Now at the beginning of that clip, you can hear the name Tati being said, and then you can hear me as aunt to say that nobody knows who Tati is. And then Armando explains that she also works for Ardenvilla's. Well, just to put some context to that, Armando had told Deputy Polino that he'd come back to

the apartment because he had heard from Tati that Mia was missing, essentially giving an explanation for why he was there when in reality, there was no reason for him to be there. Then obviously, things started to get heated from there, which is the part of the clip that I played. And ultimately, because Deputy Polino didn't do anything, Armando was free to leave. And that was that. But that wasn't that for Mia's family. They knew the truth and weren't willing to just walk away without answers. So they followed Armando. And what they caught him doing was alarming to say the least. At 8.47am on the morning of September 25th, which, mind you, was only a few hours later,

officers with the Castleberry Police Department responded to Armando's apartment after members of Mia's family called to report that he was carrying blue rubber gloves, a backpack, and a pink blanket, which they believed belonged to Mia, out of the backseat of his car. In his front, the passenger side. New video shows a man who appears to match a description of Armando Caballero getting out of a car. A car that matches the description from police of Armando's. A blank, the blanket. Oh my God, that is my blanket.

The man is seen carrying a blanket and a bag heading into a building. The blanket, families say, is Mia's. Think of yourself if you were in our shoes. If you saw that video and you saw Mia's blanket, how would you react? Once again, officers didn't have a search warrant, so they couldn't go and just check his apartment, obviously. But weirdly enough, Armando agreed for a member of Mia's family to have a look inside of his apartment.

A report states, an unknown male family member of Mia approached Armando and asked to search his residence to ensure that Mia or the blanket was not inside. Armando agreed to allow this individual to go inside with him and with the presence of a police officer to look around. After a walk through in search of the residence and not locating anything of evidentiary value, the family member, Armando, and the police

cleared the apartment. And I don't know about you guys, but I was personally pretty shocked that Armando allowed them to do this. I mean, clearly he must have known that they weren't going to find anything, that he had hidden everything. But considering what we know now, it seems pretty risky for him to have done that. And that was just the start of that day because it hadn't even been 24 hours since Mia went missing and things were already really heating up.

At 11 22 a.m., a new deputy responded to Mia's apartment at the request of her family. And this time their concerns were taken seriously. This new guy was made aware of all the evidence that had been found and all the things that deputy Polino ignored. And within two hours he alerted the criminal investigation division

and finally an investigation into her disappearance was launched. And I do wanna be super clear that these other investigators were not ignoring the obvious. With all the information that they had heard about Armando obsessing over Mia and how strange he had been acting earlier that morning, they were pretty damn certain that he was a person of interest. So certain, in fact, that at 544 p.m.

that evening, they submitted a search warrant application to a judge to be able to search his apartment officially and more thoroughly. But until they got that back, which wasn't until the following day, they had to collect evidence in other ways, which involved going through Mia's apartment. That afternoon her apartment was officially blocked off and had been labeled a crime scene, thankfully. But like I said before, some of the evidence included the bookshelf that had been propped up against the door, the broken jewelry, the teddy bear that Mia would never have willingly left behind, a box cutter that was found under her rug and, of course, the bloody pillow.

And all of this is clearly evidence of a crime. But none of it is evidence that Armando was responsible, which obviously meant it was likely going to be a couple more days until they had anything more concrete against him. That is, of course, if he did it, but I mean, I've made it pretty clear to you all that he did. So the 25th ultimately came to an end,

unfortunately, without many answers, and Armando was considered a person of interest, but he was free to just go about his life at this point, and he did. The following day, Sunday the 26th, Orange County Sheriff's Detectives executed the search warrant on his apartment, but he was nowhere to be found. And as for any evidence, well, it was unclear if they found anything, which obviously was a huge devastation to her family. I mean, the hope was to find Mia. And when that didn't happen, loved ones gathered outside her apartment in prayer

as investigators continued to search the wooded areas surrounding the building. And as you can imagine, emotions were super, super high. The desperate search for a missing 19-year-old woman, friends and family are pleading to bring Mia Marcano home. The young woman was last seen Friday afternoon at an apartment complex near UCF. Good evening to you, I'm Eric Von Aiken.

Thanks for staying up very late with us on this Sunday. The Orange County Sheriff's Office says even a shred of information can help find this woman. New 6's Nadine Yanez has the latest on that search tonight. This afternoon you could hear the sounds of helicopters hovering over the Arden Villas apartments. The last place where Mia Marcano was seen Friday and tonight you could hear the sounds of her family crying from within the apartment complex begging for anyone with any information to bring me a home tonight.

to bring Mia home tonight. It was a painful plea at Arden Villas Apartments Sunday night that site where family lit candles around a poster to bring Mia Marcano home family speaking to us for the first time since Mia went missing Friday. I'm joy Sue Thompson. I'm Mia McConnell's grandmother and

all we ask you to help us bring me home. The family not saying much else as detectives have asked them not to speak while the investigation continues. And if there is one thing that was so clear to me and I want to make clear to all of you. When I was looking into this case,

it's just so obvious that her family never gave up hope. And these people are so, so very strong. I don't know if I would have the strength that they all did. Every night they gathered outside of her apartment and held a vigil to pray for her safe return. And every night that they did this, more and more people in the community showed up. Just by looking at the photos and videos, you can just tell how loved she was and how many lives she truly touched. And it's just, it's hard to even find the words to describe how impossibly painful this must have been for everyone who loved her. They more or less holding us together, you know, their support, their love,

their understanding. I know there are a lot here. I'm so happy to be here with my family. I'm so happy to be together. You know, their support their love. The understanding. I know there are a lot of fathers, mothers here that understand the pain that we're feeling right now, an unwavering crowd and a unified

message as this family gathers and praise. She just needs to come home. We're just. Searching everywhere. you know, high and low, but we will find her and she will come home. We still have hope. We have continued to ask the public to help us. Keep praying. Hope that we could bring our princess home. Not having answers is incredibly difficult, especially when you have a hunch. I mean, they really had a strong feeling that Armando was involved, and at this point, he was just free. Shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall

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Mia would return the money, he would try to send it to her again. And it was just pretty obvious that Armando was obsessed with Mia, and equally as obvious that she was uncomfortable with everything he was doing, hence why her loved ones were so certain that he had to have been involved. They even posted a $15,000 reward

in hopes that it would incentivize information, but it went untouched. So they just had to wait while investigators continued their search, which was happening high, low, and everything in between by this point. Helicopters were flying above the area and people could be seen cutting through tall grass

with machetes, but nothing was turning up. That is until a day later, on September 27th, when a 911 call was placed to report that a body had been found. Now, it wasn't Mia's body, it was Armando's. 911, do you need police, fire, or medical? Um, we found a **** on property. Someone hung themselves from a garage. It's a male. Okay. Yes, male. Alright. Yes, a male.

Alright, he's beyond, I mean, he's deceased. Beyond any help? I believe so. Okay, alright. At 1034 a.m., 27-year-old Armando's body was located in a Seminole County apartment complex by an employee of the building. The maintenance garage where he was found was quickly sectioned off, and his car was towed and brought into the crime scene lab for further processing. A press conference was held that day by Sheriff John Mina to update the public on what they had

discovered and also to provide an update on Mia's disappearance. We are here today because we need our entire community's help in locating 19-year-old Mia Marcano. I'm here with Mia's father and mother Marlon Marcano, Ema Scabriel, her mother Marlon, her brother Marlon Jr., her stepmother Giselle, her aunt Pia, grandmother Violet, and Joy. We are employing anyone with any information about Mia's whereabouts to please come forward. After Mia was reported missing, our detectives determined 27 year old Armando Manuel Caballero was a person of interest in her disappearance. Earlier today, Armando Caballero was found dead at an apartment complex in Seminole County. It appears he has killed himself.

Caballero's vehicle was found at the scene and is being delivered to the Sheriff's Office for processing. So the death investigation of Caballero is being conducted by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. We have been actively searching for Caballero this weekend. And I want to reiterate, Mia is still missing. Her disappearance is suspicious, and our detectives and the family members obviously suspect foul play. So we are still doing everything possible we can to find her. Now a really big piece of information came out during this press conference and it was that a warrant for Armando's arrest had actually already been issued prior to his death. However, this wasn't a warrant for murder.

It was a warrant for burglary. Through their investigation, detectives had learned that Armando had used his master key fob, which he had because he worked maintenance for the building, to enter Mia's apartment, not once, but twice on the afternoon that she was missing. The first time was 2.14 p.m.

The second time was 4.34 p.m. And I'm sure some of you are already doing the math here. Mia got off work at 5 p.m., meaning that investigators believe he was waiting for her inside her apartment when she got back. At 5.06 p.m., Mia used her personal key fob to enter her apartment, which is when investigators believe

that she was ambushed by Armando. They believe a struggle ensued in her bedroom, which is when she either died or became incapacitated. We now know that a maintenance issued master key fob, which Caballero was known to be in possession of, was used to enter Mia's apartment Friday afternoon at about 430. This would have been about 30 minutes before she finished her shift at the apartment complex. The Mia was last seen at approximately 5 p.m. Friday, September 24th at Arden Villa's apartments.

And obviously her family raised this level of alarm and concern knowing Mia, she would never not be in contact with them, would never turn off her phone, obviously never let her phone battery drain completely down. Now according to the reported timeline of events from the day that Mia disappeared, Armando's car is said to have left Arden Villas at 5 52 p.m. It's believed that between when he attacked her and when he left he transported her body through her bedroom window and into the trunk

Of his car and from there it's believed that he just went home However at 701 he called in a fake maintenance request to the apartment complex Obviously, he was trying to establish an alibi aka if he was working then he couldn't have possibly been responsible, right? Aka if he was working then he couldn't have possibly been responsible, right? Wrong. At 7-Eleven he returned to Ardenvilla's but only stayed for about 30 minutes before leaving the final time and truthfully Armando's movement and behavior were just not consistent with an innocent person. I mean just the fact alone that he entered her apartment with that key fob right before

she went missing was enough to confirm their suspicions and justify an arrest warrant. However, we know that he was gone before an arrest could be made. A final text message was sent from his phone at 9.35 PM on the night of September 25th, meaning that Armando took his own life sometime between that night and the following morning, September 27th. And God, it just really pisses me off when this happens in cases that I cover. I mean, I'm sure you all feel the same way. Armando is...it's hard to even put into words what a piece of shit coward this man was.

The fact that he doesn't have to face any of the consequences for what he did is just so unfair to Mia and her family. And it's not even like he, you know, left them with some type of note, some type of answers to the questions that they have. If anything, they just were left with more questions. Ending his life like that was certainly confirmation to her family and to everyone that he was responsible, but they still didn't know exactly what happened and not knowing where she was still was just torture. And to make matters even more difficult, on September 28th, Mia's Facebook account was registered as checked in in Orlando.

Now, I don't have Facebook really, or I guess I have one, but I haven't logged into it in like, probably eight years at least. So from what I remember when I was on, I believe that was a feature, checking in is just marking that you are in a certain location. I think people normally do it when they're traveling,

things like that. So the fact that her Facebook account was checked in at Orlando kind of gave some false hope to her family. The police didn't think it really carried any weight, but to her family, you know, when you're in that desperate of a position, anything is going to make you feel hopeful. They really believe that it could be a good sign and I don't blame them. I would feel the same way if I were in their shoes. Now, as far as I was able to find, I don't understand why this check-in happened. Maybe some of you have an idea,

maybe this can just like happen or it's a delayed thing that she did in the past or some type of just technical error or a friend accidentally checked in. I mean, who knows what actually happened, but it definitely was not Mia actually checking in in Orlando. But from then on, nightly vigils continued to be held and they were determined to keep hope and prayer alive as long as it took.

And investigators weren't giving up either. And data from Armando's cell phone showed that it had pinged in Seminole County, which is where his body was found. It also pinged in Volusia County and also in the Paramore area. So this is where the searches were concentrated and the FBI even joined in to help. It's been hard watching her father, her mother, her grandparents, you know, suffer like this. More family and friends of Mia arriving at the new Smyrna Beach search site. Deputies have focused on the location ever since they discovered the now deceased caballera cell phone pinged in the area. There's absolute anger because the main suspect is now gone

from high above. You could see some of the miles of land deputies are searching through exactly what they are looking for remains unknown. I know that you know it appears as if they are searching for someone that may not be alive that is a part of our reality. However, the family has not given up hope. And finally,

on October 2nd, 2021 2021 the answers that everyone was looking for were finally found. One of the places that Armando's phone pinged on the night that Mia went missing was near the Timberscone Apartments which are located in southwest Orlando. Now these apartments have been abandoned over the years and the area is generally known for not being the safest and after they discovered that Armando had once lived in these apartments, they thought it was possible that maybe he had dumped her body somewhere around there. And considering his phone said he was only there

from about 8.20 to 8.40 PM, so he couldn't have gone that far. So a search effort was kicked off and what they found confirmed everyone's worst nightmare. At 10.45 AM, Mia's nearly skeletonized body was found in a state of advanced putrefactive decomposition, otherwise known as fourth stage of human decay. In just eight days, her body had been destroyed

by the elements, I mean, this is Florida, and it was so bad that the medical examiner was unable to determine the exact cause of death. The report just states that Mia died by homicide of undetermined means. She was found wearing a black bra, blue jeans, underwear, and socks with a white bathrobe tied around her waist. A black sweatshirt was found underneath her, and her red purse and wallet were located nearby.

On top of finding her wallet, which did help them to confirm her identity, investigators were confident that this was Mia, as she was still wearing a charm necklace with her name on it. And it's the little details like that that just break your heart. And to make matters worse,

which it's hard to even imagine how things could get worse here, she was found with duct tape wrapped around her head, neck, ankles, and wrists. And this duct tape actually matched the kind that Armando used in his maintenance work. So that night a final vigil was held and this one was bigger than all of the others.

But instead of praying for her return, loved ones had to mourn this incredibly massive loss. I just have to take a quick pause after that because it's just like, oh my God, she was so young. I mean, for this to even have happened to her to begin with is just so sick and twisted and beyond devastating. But when you hear details like that, it's just like, how can this happen?

Mia had so much to offer the world. She was just getting started, 19 years old. And this sick fuck had to just take it all away from her and her family. Why? For what? God, it just makes me so angry thinking about how her family now has to live the rest of their lives without her, and he's gone. Nothing that they can do to hold him accountable. Whatever religion you believe, I'm sure he's judged in some form in the afterlife if that exists, but like nothing to hold him accountable here. Nothing for them to see him tangibly suffer the way that they have made them suffer. You know, it's just, God, it makes me angry sometimes.

These cases, it's just like, especially in cases like this where there is just no reason, no fucking reason. She only lost her life because of this truly sick individual who could not take no for an answer, who had to have her and when she said no, he had to kill her. What the fuck? Which Armando, by the way, actually had a history of violence. So let's go through some of that. Armando should have never even had a chance to be around Mia because he should not have even been hired

by Arden Villas to begin with. Not to mention that Mia and all other tenants living in Arden Villas should have been made aware of Armando's criminal history before deciding if they were even comfortable living there. But none of them had that chance. But listen to his criminal past, you guys, because you're gonna be pretty blown away.

In 2013, eight years before all of this, Armando was arrested for concocting a makeshift explosive device which he set off in a school, in a fucking school with children as a prank. What? Luckily, nobody was harmed, but this dude literally made a tiny little bomb and set it off near children and was arrested for that, but apparently isn't considered a threat to the public. Riddle me that. Then there's the fact that it turns out there's a second woman who had experienced very strange behavior from Armando, violent behavior, after she rejected him.

Turns out that in March of 2021, another Florida woman at an apartment complex rejected Armando, so this motherfucker threw a dumbbell through her window. And thankfully she wasn't harmed, but it just goes to show that he has a history of violent behavior when he doesn't get what he wants from women. I mean, this dude is just bad news

and clearly always has been. But Arden Villas and the company that hired him clearly didn't do a strong enough background check and they put their residents at risk because of it. Which brings us to the lawsuits against them. Less than three weeks after Mia's body was found, her family sued Arden Villas and their parent company, Preece, for her wrongful death. They were suing for $30,000 in damages, claiming that they were negligent in protecting their residents with adequate security measures. A lack of surveillance cameras, a lack of working

surveillance cameras. My God, how many times do I have to say that in my career? I... But these broken security cameras allowed Armando to freely transport Mia without being caught. And had those been available, the lawsuit alleges that she would have been found much sooner which I think we can all agree. Additionally it states that management failed to properly vet employees which obviously just went over a second ago and I think we can all agree to that and these inadequate background checks are a danger to everyone who lives at the apartment complex and so is not disclosing any possible findings. Had Mia's family had any idea about Armando's criminal history,

she never would have moved in there to begin with. Plus, and this is insane, Mia had actually told their manager directly about Armando's behavior. She had expressed concern about the way that he was acting around her and nothing was done. This woman could have spoken to him or better yet fired him

and she did nothing with that information. And this happened more than once. She repeatedly ignored Mia's concerns. And not just that, this woman also never reached out to Mia's family after her murder. This is someone who worked with her. You couldn't even just send them any type of

condolences. Anything. It actually took Arden Villa's apartment complex three days to even acknowledge that someone living in their apartment complex was missing. I mean, come on. And I'm sure this won't surprise you at all, but no one from their company ever said sorry and either did anyone from their parent company. They just pretty much did not care. But ultimately her family hopes that by filing this lawsuit, the apartment complex and their parent company will make changes to prevent other families

from dealing with the pain and grief that they have had to live with every single day. On October 14th, Mia was laid to rest in a beautiful yet very emotional service where hundreds of people gathered to honor and celebrate her 19 years of life. And if you're watching this episode, you can already see, but her casket was this beautiful piece of art that symbolized her beauty and really represented all that she was. It's truly beautiful to see the way that they've depicted Mia in her afterlife and

I don't think they could have done a better job truly. Loved ones and friends arriving this morning for the funeral of Mia Marcano at Cooper City Church of God, a crown resting atop Mia's painted casket. Last night hundreds packed the same church remembering the life she lived. Mia Marcano remembered by her loved ones as vibrant and full of life. Every day for the rest of her memorial and emotional farewell, loved ones taking the stage. Even strangers feeling compelled to speak. The strength of this family just really inspires me.

I mean, that's the only way I can really put it. And I mean, we see this in so many cases, but when families go through probably the worst thing that anyone could ever go through, right? Probably the worst thing that they have gone through in their lives, or one of the worst thing that anyone could ever go through, right? Probably the worst thing that they have gone through in their lives or one of the worst things.

That they are able to show such strength and resilience and enact positive change from their loved one's death. It will never stop blowing me away. On top of that first lawsuit that they filed, they also filed two lawsuits against deputies from the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the department as a whole. And don't think that I forgot about Deputy Dipshit, I mean, Deputy Polino. Mia's family and their attorney filed a lawsuit that claims that the Orange County Sheriff's Office failed miserably to properly train and supervise deputies, resulting in the mishandling of Mia's case, which I think we can all agree was very mishandled. And this lawsuit also alleges that they violated Mia's civil rights. I know I

already explained that Deputy Polino failed this family, but let me remind you just briefly that he ignored evidence, didn't report the incident to the proper department, and straight up said that this case wasn't a priority to him. And if I see people out there trying to defend this guy in the comments, give it a rest, will you? Did you just hear everything I said? And just guess what consequences he faced for this. Well, I'm sure many of you would guess nothing. He did get something, but it was barely anything.

He only got 150 hours of unpaid suspension, which equals about 20 days of work, considering if he worked eight hours a day. That's it. I truly believe, and I'm sure many of you will agree with me, that if he had actually done his job, had given even the littlest of a shit about his job and about Mia, that maybe they would have been able to arrest Armando before he took his own life, and that

there would possibly be even some justice for her in the end. But no, he couldn't be bothered to care about her. And because of that, they will never get that justice, which is just the fact that he only got 120 hours of unpaid suspension for that. I can't even tell you how mad that makes me. And I can't imagine how her family feels. My God. And there can't imagine how her family feels, my god. And there was also a second deputy named in this lawsuit, and that was a corporal named Kenneth Dale, who was Deputy Polino's supervisor. And the lawsuit alleges that he also failed to report what had happened after Deputy Polino made him aware of what was going on. Now he says that

he wasn't made aware of any major evidence of it really wasn't his fault, but personally, I think that's a load of shit. And so was his punishment because he got only 10 hours of unpaid suspension. 10 hours. It's like basically one day. He just pretty much got a sick day. Unbelievable. Mia's family, as you can imagine, are incredibly upset and angry about all of this and I don't think anyone can blame them.

I mean, I don't even anyone can blame them. I mean, I don't even know how I would handle it. This is just clearly not enough punishment, especially when these are the only people that can still be held accountable for these men to just have gotten some unpaid suspensions, considering what Mia went through and what her family has had to go through the impact that this failure had on the overall investigation. Plus, not to mention they're super disappointed in Sheriff John Mina, who apparently promised them to make policy changes within the department, but no changes have actually been made.

And I hate to say that I'm not shocked, but I'm just not. I mean, I'm not. Overpromising and under delivering is so common in these cases. Pretty much all of the cases I cover, it's exhausting. Instances like these are just so unfair to these families and unfair to the people who could be possibly helped by these policy changes in the future, but they won't because they will never actually happen.

It's cases like this that I think should scare every citizen of this country, you know? And no matter where you are, there are failures in when it comes to law enforcement all over the world. And to me, it makes me feel unsafe to live here, you know, that something could happen to me or someone I love. And things like this could happen that could prevent me from getting justice. And I could just sit here and go on and on and I'm feeling like especially angry today

for some reason. But not all hope is lost. And I want to end this on a positive note and talk about the Mia Marcano Foundation that her family has put together. And I'm just really amazed by them. Very proud of them that they did this in the wake of her murder. Her family established the Mia Marcano Foundation, which has a mission to support, educate, and provide resources to families of missing persons while advocating for the protection of students and vulnerable populations as it relates to housing security. They do not want Mia's death to be in vain, so their primary focus is to prevent families of missing persons from enduring what their family has had to endure. And to achieve that, they've also passed Mia's law.

Mia's law was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in June of 2022 to strengthen residential safety measures by calling for increased background checks for staff in rental communities. This law, effective July 1st, 2022, requires that landlords perform background screenings on employees as a condition of employment. It allows landlords to disqualify any applicant that has been convicted of, found guilty of, or pled guilty to a crime involving the disregard for safety of others that is a felony or a first degree misdemeanor in Florida.

It also allows landlords to disqualify applicants if they've done any of the above in another state, so long as it would qualify as a felony or first degree misdemeanor in Florida. They can also disqualify applicants who have been convicted of violence, such as murder, sexual battery, robbery, carjacking, home invasion, robbery, and stalking.

Additionally, Mia's law requires that landlords maintain a key log for all keys for each unit, and that they establish protocols for issuing, returning, and storing those keys. And another really cool thing that this law did was increase the notice time from 12 hours to 24 hours when it comes to a landlord or maintenance person entering a unit regarding a service request. So tenants in Florida now receive a 24 hour notice before

someone is able to enter their apartment, which seems like a duh, but glad that that is enacted now. But it's really impressive that they've gotten so much done. And the fact that they did this all in me as honor i special. This is not just of florida. I believe this United States. Jody Coving Mercado Foundation creati me as memory alive throug

now trying to rally suppo law in the state of florid protections for renters a trying to rally support t in the state of florida c protections for renters a checks for staff and rent dreams, so many things sh mom, it's a way not just life, but also her loss.

say, you know, time here learn to cope. And of course, it seems only fitting to make my donation this week to the Mia Marcano Foundation, which I will have linked below in the description of the episode. If you're also interested in making a donation possibly, or even just learning about it or spreading it to your loved ones, that would be really cool. Mia's family has really gone through hell and back. And I just wanted to once again say say I'm so impressed by you guys. I'm beyond words. I am devastated for you guys. Going through what you went through is something that no parent should ever, ever have to go through and for you to have then done so much in such little time in her honor to protect others and help others is just... It's magnificent and I'm just so sad that Mia was only 19.

I don't know what else to say. My heart just goes out to everyone in Mia's family and everyone who loved her and I'm just so sorry for your loss. Mia's mom has said that she's lost more than just Mia, but she's also lost her son too, because he has never been the same since his sister died and he holds a lot of anger, understandably, and just bitterness towards what happened and I cannot blame him for that. Mia's death was just so sudden and unnecessary and unexpected that I don't know how you would ever truly feel okay

ever again. Her mom also says that she still talks to her daughter and sees her in her dreams but wishes she could hug her and tell her that she loves her one last time and I know that her father has to feel the same way and luckily Mia was able to talk to both of her parents before she was murdered and tell them that she loved them and I'm really glad that she was able to do that. And I think it's just a reminder, you know, to us all that you never know when it's going to be the last time that you talk to somebody. I wish so badly that things could have been different for Mia, for this family, that her

killer could have been brought to justice. I just want to say, oftentimes I really try not to cry when reporting on these cases. You know, every case is extremely upsetting to me and it's not, I don't even know how to say this. There's just some times where it gets me on certain days more than others and I really like to try and hold it together emotionally and if I'm going to cry, I cry after or I cry before while researching because I don't like to make it about me. You know, sometimes it just hits you and I don't know what else to say guys. I'm just, this just really, really was upsetting to me as all cases are and I don't want people to get the idea that, you know, I'm only sad on certain cases.

I'm sad, heartbroken on every case I talk about, but it's just, especially when you're talking about these parents as family, it's just, she's so young. I can't even talk anymore. I have to wrap this up, but I'm just going to go ahead and wrap up there. I will have everything linked below. Please check out the Mia Marcano foundation and I will see you guys next week and we'll be talking about another case but until then please stay safe out there.

That is going to be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.