The FBI has joined the search for missing 19-year-old college student Miya Marcano after she was abducted from her apartment a week ago.
Marcano was last seen around 5 p.m. on Sept. 24 at the Arden Villas apartment complex in Orlando. She was wearing a red shirt, jeans and a black hoodie. According to Orange County Sheriff John Mina, Armando Manuel Caballero, a man that authorities named a “prime suspect” in her disappearance, was found dead on Monday (Sept. 27) from an apparent suicide after his car and home were searched.
“We’re just ready to bring her home, but we need everyone’s help. We need every resource at this point,” Semone Westmaas, Marcano’s aunt, told WFTV.
During a news conference on Thursday (Sept. 30), Mina said 60 detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division are working solely on this case. “I know that Miya’s family and her loved ones are going through unimaginable anguish as they try and find out what happened to Miya,” he said. “Hundreds of sworn and civilian personnel here at the sheriff’s office and beyond have been working around the clock to employ all the resources at our disposal to find Miya.”
Caballero worked as a maintenance worker where Marcano lived. He reportedly made romantic advances at the college student, but she resisted. Authorities say he owned a key fob that gave him access to all of the apartments and it was used at the missing woman’s unit just before she disappeared.
“We believe that the suspect that we had named, Armando Caballero, is responsible. We don’t know all the circumstances involved in what happened there, but he was obviously the prime suspect,” Mina said.
Over 30 searches in three different counties have been conducted since Marcano went missing. The sheriff said his agency has reached out to the FBI for assistance with this case. “We are working with the FBI and they are assisting in this case. I’ll just say in a manner of technology at this point,” he said.
If you or anyone you know has any information about the whereabouts of Marcano, please contact the Orange County Sherriff’s Office at 407-836-HELP (4357). The REVOLT team is praying for her safe return.