Florida cops arrest man for broad daylight, on

Release time：2024-05-21 16:02:25 Source：Culture Capsule news portal

A man has been arrested in Florida following the armed on-camera kidnapping and subsequent homicide of a woman in broad daylight. 

Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, 31, of Homestead, was abducted at a busy intersection in Seminole County just before 6pm on April 11. 

Jordanish Torres-Garcia, 28, has now been identified as a person of interest in the investigation and was taken into custody just after noon on Friday.

He was identified after his phone matched the cellphone of a person who purchased the green Acura vehicle that was seen ramming into Aguasvivas' white Dodge Durango.

During Friday's news conference Jordanish's Facebook's profile picture was placed side by side with a screen shot of the video that showed the armed carjacking. Authorities say both images looked 'identical'.

Giovany Joel Crespo-Hernandez was also named a 'person of interest' and is wanted by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. 

Jordanish Torres-Garcia, 28, has now been identified as a person of interest in the investigation and was taken into custody just after noon on Friday

Giovany Joel Crespo-Hernandez was also named a 'person of interest' and is wanted by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office

Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, 31, of Homestead, was abducted at a busy intersection just before 6pm on April 11

Video shows a man in a ski mask climb out of a green Acura behind Aguasvivas's car and point a handgun at her before climbing into the back driver's-side door

Torres-Garcia, 28, was taken into custody on a federal felony warrant related to weapons possession in an unrelated case. 

Torres-Garcia is alleged to have a connection to the carjacking and appears to have a connection to the purchase of the green Acura vehicle that was seen following and bumping into Aguasvivas' car before the carjacking.

'We have not made the connection yet with Jordan as far as this. So to answer the question of why, if this is our shooter, why he would target her? I can't answer that question yet,' Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said on Friday.

As for Crespo-Hernandez, he had conducted a FaceTime call with Aguasvivas brother in the days prior to the carjacking.

He told the woman's brother during their call that Aguasvivas was in town to reportedly give 'money and other stuff' to someone. 

Orange County deputy, Francisco Estrella (pictured), was arrested for secretly recording and disclosing information about the case to the Aguasvivas family

Aguasvivas made a call to her husband and told him someone was following her and had rammed her car. He told her to not stop but neither called 911, according to officers.

Detectives with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office found the remains of Aguasvivas body in a badly charred car hours later.

On Monday, an Orange County deputy was arrested for secretly recording and disclosing information about the case to the Aguasvivas family. 

The deputy, 33-year-old Francisco Estrella, was childhood friends with Aguasvivas's husband. Estrella now faces five felony charges. 

Cops said in an arrest warrant affidavit that Estrella had called one of the investigators pretending to be Aguasvivas's cousin and identifying himself as 'Francisco Archuela'

He said he was concerned about the investigation and the victim's safety and asked for an update on the case. The investigator told Estrella she could not share those details as the investigation was ongoing. 

When cops inspected the phone of Aguasvivas's husband, they found WhatsApp messages between him and Estrella. 

The messages included a photo of a business card for the investigator that Estrella called and a video recording of the conversation between the investigator and Estrella - which the investigator did not know had been taken. 

There was also a picture of the investigator's driver's license profile - sent by Estrella to Miguel Aguasvivas. 

Aguasvivas husband is not a person of interest in the case and is cooperating with the investigation - but detectives believe he knows more than he letting on.

'I've described the husband as cooperative; quite frankly I think he knows a lot more than what he's shared,' Sherrif Lemma said.

A witness driving behind Aguasvivas on April 11 filmed the frightening daytime confrontation and later called 911.  

The footage shows a man in a ski mask and black hoodie get out of an Acura sedan and approach the driver's side of Aguasvivas's Dodge Durango, pointing a 10mm handgun at her. 

When Aguasvivas unlocks the doors, the man climbs into the rear driver's side door.

Detectives with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office say the man climbed into the passenger seat before Aguasvivas resumed driving, while another man trailed behind them in the Acura sedan. 

Investigators believe the suspect ordered Aguasvivas  to drive to a construction site, where a badly burnt vehicle was found later that day with a body inside

'You don't have your wife communicate with you that you're getting rammed by a car and go two hours without calling anybody.' 

Lemma said Aguasvivas's husband has handed over his phone for a forensic examination. 

'We would not have known about the Orange County deputy, at least not yet, if he did not do that,' Lemma said, referring to the correspondence between Aguasvivas' husband and the deputy on his phone. 

Lemma said the green Acura that rammed into Aguasvivas during the carjacking was found in an empty apartment complex in Orange County on Saturday morning. 

The same vehicle has been linked to a different case where a tow truck driver was shot multiple times and killed in Taft, Florida. 

Investigators believe the 31-year-old was targeted and say her husband told her to keep driving when she told him she was being carjacked

On March 19 the Acura had been towed from an Orange County apartment complex by a driver later identified as 39-year-old Juan Luis Cintron Garcia.

Lemma revealed that some of the rounds of shots at the scene where Garcia was killed match the rounds of shots where Aguasvivas was killed. 

Speaking at a press conference last Saturday, Sheriff Dennis M. Lemma said he was appalled by the original footage.

'It is incredibly frightening to watch the boldness of this suspect, this perpetrator getting out of the car, wearing a hood, carrying a weapon in broad daylight, getting in the vehicle,' Lemma said.

In a 911 call released by the sheriff's office, the witness urged: 'You need to do something now because I don't know what's going on.'

Less than two hours after the carjacking, police received reports of gunshots and smoke in Oceola County.

A badly charred vehicle, believed to be Aguasvivas's Dodge Durango, was found at a construction site.

A dozen 10mm shell casings and one projectile were also found at the scene.

Aguasvivas had stopped at a red light at the time of the carjacking. Police say another man followed in the Acura sedan as she drove to the construction site

'There is no clear indicator why somebody would do this,' Lemma said. 'But we do feel and believe...that this was not a random act of violence. The perpetrators knew exactly who they were going after, why they were going after them.'

Aguasvivas hailed from the Dominican Republic and was a United States citizen. She lived with her husband in the Miami suburb of Homestead, where the pair worked at a barbershop and beauty salon.

The carjacking occurred just four days before her 32nd birthday.

Investigators believe she was forced by the gunman to drive to the construction site, and that the suspect was familiar with the area. 

Aguasvivas's husband said she was in the area to visit family, though investigators were unable to identify any relatives in Central Florida

The 31-year-old hailed from the Dominican Republic and was a U.S. citizen. She and her husband lived in Homestead and worked at a barber shop and a beauty salon

'Why did she and her husband not call 911? I don't know. Why did she stop at the red light? There's a lot of things that we'll absolutely never know, but this is a tragic incident nevertheless,' he said.

Authorities have not released further details about the suspects in the case. 

Lemma said investigators do not know where Aguasvivas was heading.

Her husband told police she was in Central Florida to visit family, though investigators were unable to trace any relatives in the area.

The sheriff noted Aguasvivas's husband has cooperated with police and has no criminal record in the United States.

Related articles