ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The owner of the apartment complex at the center of 19-year-old Miya Marcano’s death is responding to the family’s concerns about safety months after the tragedy.
Orange County deputies said Marcano was killed by a maintenance worker last September at the Arden Villas Apartments where she lived and worked.
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New court documents show the company that owns the complex admits not all safeguards were in place at the time of her disappearance and death.
The Preiss company said before Marcano’s disappearance, Arden Villas Apartments didn’t have a system to monitor the unauthorized use of key fobs issued to employees and there were no written procedures in place requiring extensive background checks for applicants prior to hiring them.
They also admitted to not having any security cameras installed to see if Marcano was taken out of her apartment, in addition to not having a security gate that properly worked, according to court documents.
“The death of Miya Marcano could have been prevented. We’ve said that from day one,” said Daryl Washington, Miya Marcano’s family attorney. “There was a lack of policies and procedures.”
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Deputies said maintenance worker Armando Caballero used a master key fob to enter Miya’s apartment. Later, they said he killed her, dumped her body and then killed himself.
Nearly four months after the final report in the Marcano case was released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, two deputies who worked in the investigation were suspended for violating policies.
According to investigators, the responding Deputy Samir Paulino received 150 hours of unpaid suspension for not reporting details to his supervisor, like blood being found on a pillow in Marcano’s room.
For that reason, investigators said Corporal Kenneth Dale misidentified Marcano as a “voluntary missing person” instead of a “missing, endangered person” and subsequently received 10 hours of unpaid suspension.
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“At the very minimum, Deputy Paulino needs to be terminated,” Washington said. “Had he acted with a sense or urgency, things could have been much different.”
Sheriff John Mina issued the below statement following the suspensions:
“As a result of this incident, we are in the process of making changes to policy that will direct first-responding patrol deputies to immediately notify their supervisors, and the Missing Persons Unit, in any case in which someone is considered a Missing Endangered Person,” Mina said.
News 6 is still working to learn more from the sheriff’s office about the policy change.
We also reached out to the Arden Villas Apartments and the Preiss Company for a response in regards to the court filings and they have not responded.
Read the full court documents below:
Arden Villas Apartments Court Filings by Sam Dunne on Scribd
Arden Villas Apartments Court Filings by Sam Dunne on Scribd
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