Horrifying new details in Miya Marcano case: 19-year-old was found with hands, feet bound with duct tape

Her body was found Saturday, eight days after she was last seen.

ByMarlene Lenthang
October 7, 2021, 11:06 AM

Officials shared new horrifying details in the case of 19-year-old Miya Marcano, revealing she was found bound at her hands and feet with duct tape.

A body found Oct. 2 in a wooded area near the Tymber Skan apartment complex in Orlando, Florida, was positively identified as Marcano on Tuesday, the chief medical examiner for Orange and Osceola Counties told ABC News.

Marcano, a student at Valencia College, had been missing for over a week when her body was found. She was last seen at the Arden Villas apartments complex in Orlando where she lived on Sept. 24.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina shared an update on the case Wednesday, saying: "Miya was found bound with black duct tape on her feet and hands, and her mouth was also covered with black duct tape."

PHOTO: A photo from a missing person poster shows student Miya Marcano, a central Florida college student who had been missing since Friday, Sept. 24, 2021.
A photo from a missing person poster shows student Miya Marcano, a central Florida college student who had been missing since Friday, Sept. 24, 2021.
Orange County Sheriff's Office via AP

Marcano was found wearing jeans, bra and a robe. Mina said her purse was found nearby containing the shirt she was last seen wearing.

Mina reiterated that Armando Caballero, 27, "is the person responsible for her death" and officials are not looking for other suspects.

Caballero was a maintenance worker at Arden Villas who was found dead Sept. 27, three days after Marcano disappeared, from an apparent suicide, authorities said.

PHOTO: Sheriff John W. Mina shows photos of Armando Manuel Caballero during a press conference, Sept. 27, 2021, on missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano at the Orange County Sheriff's Office Central Operations, in Orlando, Fla.
Sheriff John W. Mina shows photos of Armando Manuel Caballero during a press conference, Sept. 27, 2021, on missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano at the Orange County Sheriff's Office Central Operations, in Orlando, Fla.
Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel via Newscom, FILE

Authorities previously said Caballero had expressed a romantic interest in Marcano but she rebuffed his advances. Caballero possessed a key fob to access apartments and his was used at Marcano's unit just before her disappearance, authorities said.

PHOTO: One of the buildings in the Tymber Skan apartments in Orange County, Florida, is seen in a 2016 Google Maps image.
One of the buildings in the Tymber Skan apartments in Orange County, Florida, is seen in a 2016 Google Maps image. A body believed to be 19-year-old college student Miya Marcano, who has been missing for just over a week, was discovered Saturday morning in the wooded area near the apartment complex, the Orange County Sheriff's Office announced.
Google Maps Street View

"There is no indication that there was sexual assault of any kind" and the cause and manner of death are yet to be determined by the medical examiner's office, Mina said.

He said officials believe that Caballero was waiting for her inside her apartment on Sept. 24. He later killed her and hid her body at the area of the other Orlando apartment complex, based off information police have so far.

PHOTO: Flowers, candles and photos create a makeshift memorial during a vigil for Miya Marcano, whose body was found in a wooded area at an Orlando, Fla., Oct. 2, 2021.
Flowers, candles and photos create a makeshift memorial during a vigil for Miya Marcano, whose body was found in a wooded area at an Orlando, Fla., Oct. 2, 2021.
Cristobal Reyes/Orlando Sentinel via Newscom

Officials are still trying to determine if she left her apartment alive and whether this was a planned attack.

Police announced the discovery of the body Saturday. Mina said police were led to the Tymber Skan apartment area based on Caballero's cellphone records that showed he was there the day Marcano went missing around 8:20 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. Mina said that Caballero had once lived at the Tymber Skan apartments.

The investigation is ongoing.