Search for Miya Marcano, 19, escalates with FBI involvement
The person of interest in Marcano's disappearance, Armando Manuel Caballero, was found dead Monday of an apparent suicide.
The FBI has joined the investigation into the disappearance of a young Florida woman.
Miya Marcano, 19, was last seen on Friday, Sept. 24 at the Arden Villas Apartments near the University of Central Florida. According to a local report, her father said that she was supposed to get on a plane from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale that day, but she never boarded.
“Not including what’s happening today and right now, our emergency response team and others have conducted nearly 30 searches, since Miya has been missing, that spans three different counties and has included about 175 personnel,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Thursday at a news briefing, according to ABC 6.
The investigation has expanded into three different Florida counties, and while Sheriff Mina would not go into details, he noted the FBI is providing support “in the manner of technology.”
A person of interest in Marcano’s disappearance, Armando Manuel Caballero, was a maintenance man at the apartment complex since June and had accessed her apartment. He was found dead Monday of an apparent suicide.
Mina said officers executed a search warrant of Caballero’s apartment and car after his death, and shared that while they do believe he is in some way responsible for her disappearance, “we don’t know all the circumstances involved in what happened here.” He added police don’t believe there is another person involved, but the investigation is ongoing.
“Our civilian analysts are working on all manner of digital resources and social media in their quest to find Miya, and our forensics detectives are processing all the evidence that we have collected in this case. So we’ve issued search warrants, investigative subpoenas, tracking orders for cell phones,” said Mina.
The FBI and the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, are asking anyone who has information about Marcano’s disappearance to contact them at (407) 836-4357.
The sheriff made it clear the missing girl’s family had the department’s focus.
“I know that Miya’s family and her loved ones are going through unimaginable anguish,” Mina said, “as they try and find out what happened to her.”
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