Man Stabbed To Death Biking To Miami To Propose To Girlfriend
VERO BEACH (CBSMiami) -- A South Florida woman is mourning the murder of her boyfriend who was killed in an unprovoked attack while biking from Maryland to Miami.
Kevin Adorno, 28, was fatally stabbed at a Vero Beach McDonald's Monday night as he neared the end of a "bucket list" bicycle trip in which he planned to propose to his girlfriend when he arrived in Miami.
Click here to watch Joan Murray's report.
Adorno suffered serious stab wounds to his chest and arms. Witnesses said he was attacked outside the restaurant while talking to his girlfriend on a cellphone. He stumbled back inside but was pronounced dead a short time later at Indian River Memorial Hospital.
Police arrested 59-year-old Rene Herrera Cruz, who told police Adorno was using a cellphone, and Cruz believed he was telling other people to attack him. He was charged with first-degree murder.
Cruz, who police say has a record of various assault and drug charges is believed to be homeless. He had called police a day earlier, claiming people were threatening him.
Police spoke to Adorno's girlfriend, who said she was on the phone with him when the attack happened. She said she never heard any argument. The last thing she reported hearing was the phone drop, according to the arrest affidavit.
Police said officers found the engagement ring on Adorno that he wanted to give his girlfriend when the trip ended.
Cruz told police that he had spent a lot of time at the McDonald's after relocating to Vero Beach from Miami, according to the arrest affidavit. Cruz said he was concerned about people watching him at the McDonald's, including a customer inside the restaurant which he said was using a laptop computer to order someone to attack him. Cruz also told police he believed Adorno was directing other people by cellphone to attack him.
According to the report, Cruz said he took the knife from his waistband when someone began walking toward him. When the person saw it and ran, he stabbed Adorno.
After the attack, Cruz went across the street to a Burger King where he threw the knife and his shirt in the garbage, according to the arrest affidavit.
Cruz has a rap sheet. Police said in the 1990s, he had charges against him for battery, driving under the influence, marijuana possession and cocaine smuggling in Miami and Brooksville.
The Department of Corrections has no record that Cruz served prison time for those charges.
On Adorno's Facebook page, there's a photo album marked "The Big Bike II" which shows pictures of his trip and on his website, Adorno wrote he had previously biked 700 miles from Bangor, Maine, to Chester, Maryland. The trip from Maryland to Miami would have completed his goal.
CBS4 spoke with relatives of the suspect in Hialeah.
They say up until a week ago he was living in their house. They had no idea he had traveled to Vero Beach or what brought him there.
"He disappeared a week ago with his bicycle, and we have been looking for him," said Sara Perez.
Perez said he wasn't a violent man just very quiet. She was shocked he could be accused of a vicious act.
"He is a good person, he really is."
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