ORLANDO, Fla. – The FBI is now assisting local agencies in the search for missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano, according to the Orange County sheriff.
Sheriff John Mina said during a news briefing Thursday afternoon along with the FBI, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement are also offering resources in the investigation.
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Mina said over 60 detectives are working exclusively on this case.
“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,” he said.
The investigation has led crews to search Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties, Mina said. Information and tips are being used to target specific areas in the continued search. He said FDLE provided a canine trained in locating electronics, specifically cell phones. Mina said he would not go into specifics on the role the FBI is playing in the investigation but said they are assisting “in the manner of technology.”
Please avoid the area of S. Peninsula and 3rd Ave. while the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is currently conducting an investigation. Use the North Causeway as an alternate. No other information is available at this time. Updates to follow.
— NSBPD (@NSBPolice) September 30, 2021
On Thursday morning, deputies were ramping up search efforts at the Arden Villas Apartments complex. Residents said they received notice officers would be entering occupied garages and storage units as part of the ongoing investigation.
Mina encouraged residents to think back to last week if they saw anything suspicious and to keep an eye out this upcoming weekend.
“We’re coming up on the weekend now. We know that many people will be out and about in outdoor areas, waterways, we’re asking them to keep their eyes open and call us if they see anything,” Mina said.
Marcano was last seen around 5 p.m. Friday at the Arden Villas Apartments near the University of Central Florida. It is not clear when she was reported missing, but her father told News 6 on Monday that his daughter was supposed to fly to Fort Lauderdale on Friday.
Investigators announced Monday that a person of interest in her disappearance, Armondo Manuel Caballero, had been found dead at an apartment complex in Seminole County from an apparent suicide. Mina said Caballero was a maintenance worker at Arden Villas since June and had accessed Marcano’s apartment.
“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,” he said.
[TIMELINE: Here’s what happened before, after Miya Marcano went missing]
The sheriff also said they believed Caballero is responsible, though “we don’t know all the circumstances involved in what happened there.” He also mentioned the sheriff’s office was given video that led to a search warrant being issued for Caballero’s apartment and car “in less than 24 hours of us responding to the scene.”
“I know that Miya’s family and her loved ones are going through unimaginable anguish, as they try and find out what happened to her,” Mina said.
Anyone with information on Marcano’s disappearance is asked to call 407-836-4357 or 911.
“So at this time, we don’t believe there is another person involved but remember I said, these, these investigations constantly shift and change,” Mina said.