Search For Missing 19-Year-Old Miya Marcano Enters Fifth Day
ORLANDO (CBSMiami) – The search for missing Florida college student Miya Marcano enters day 5 on Wednesday.
The aunt of a missing teen in Central Florida says 19-years-old Marcano was kidnapped.
This as the family grows more frustrated as her disappearance reaches the five-day mark.
Marcano's aunt says investigators do have their attention on a search area but they cannot yet say where.
She tells CBS 4 News that the family is getting various locations, leads and tips from the public but not leads provided by law enforcement.
"I'm tired of seeing helicopters in the same location and nothing coming out of it, we're tired of seeing the K-9s in the same location and nothing coming out it," says Semone Westmaas, Marcano's aunt.
Marcano, a 19-year-old Valencia College student, vanished Friday September 24 just before she was supposed to fly to Fort Lauderdale to visit her family, authorities said.
Members of her family held an emotional vigil Tuesday night, outside of the Arden Villas apartment building in Orlando where Marcano lives, works, and was last seen.
Her grandmother was inconsolable.
"Protect her lord from the hands of the devil, protect her from the hands of evil," she said.
Dozens showed up lighting candles and their cellphones in hopes of shining a light to show Marcano the way home.
Family members spent the day earlier searching an area in Seminole County where Armando Caballero, the person of interest in her disappearance, was found dead. Sheriff John Mina said his death was a suicide.
"This is two days in a row just looking for anything that we can find any clue that maybe this guy left behind," said Semone Westmaas, Marcano's aunt.
Caballero was a maintenance man at her apartment complex and was seen letting himself into her apartment with a master key before her disappearance, according to investigators. The sheriff said Monday that Caballero had expressed a romantic interest in Marcano but was "repeatedly rebuffed" by her. The sheriff said deputies had talked to Caballero Friday evening but did not consider him a suspect or person of interest at that time. A warrant had been issued for Caballero's arrest on a burglary charge before he was found dead on Monday, Mina said.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office provided a new picture of Marcano with what she's believed to have last been wearing when she went missing Friday. She was wearing a red shirt, jeans, and a black hoodie at her apartment complex when she was last seen, the sheriff's office said Tuesday.
According to a relative, they knew something was wrong when they went into her apartment after her disappearance and noticed dirt and items left all over the floor, which is very unlike Marcano.
Arden Villas released a statement saying, "all potential employees are vetted through a national background check services provider," and no records of burglary or sexual assault were found involving Caballero. Rumors to the contrary appear to be based on online documents referencing someone else with the same name, the statement said.
The sheriff's office is urging the public to come forward with information to help find Marcano.
