Miami's Mysterious Dead: How DNA Technology Advances Help Coroners Identify Corpses

DeadBodyShutterstock.jpg
Shutterstock
Mina Coleman was standing in the driveway of her Tamiami home when she noticed her pack of puppies scrapping over something in the dirt. Vultures circled in the blue sky above. They must have gotten out through that damn hole in the fence again, she thought as she stomped through the backyard. They've probably dug up another dead animal.

When Coleman pulled the dogs apart, however, she didn't find a goat leg or cow rib. Instead, lying in the trampled grass were two bleached bones. Long, thin bones. Human bones.

That was the summer of 1997. Cops would spend weeks investigating, but it would be 14 years before they solved the riddle dug up by Coleman's canines.

More »

Landlord Fatally Shoots Bat-Wielding Tenant in Hialeah

hialeahshoot.jpg
A confrontation early this morning in Hialeah between a tenant with a baseball bat and a landlord with a gun ended with the tenant shot through the chest and left dead.

More »

Nursing Home Janitor Dies After Being Stabbed in Neck by Visitor

0030453614F.JPG 696×870 pixels.jpg
Danilo Jose Mejia Salazar, 63, showed up to work yesterday for his job as a janitor at the Coral Reef Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Southwest Miami-Dade and left after being airlifted to Kendall Regional Medical Center's Trauma Center.

For reasons police are still trying to piece together, Gregoria Rojas, 51, fatally stabbed Salazar in the neck.

More »

78-Year-Old Miami Man Stabs Wife to Death for Not Making Him a Burger

bartogel.jpg
Bartolo Gelsomino, a 78-year-old Kendall resident, is facing second-degree murder charges after allegedly stabbing his 71-year-old wife to death after she refused to make him a burger. The elderly culprit then tried to cover up the crime by staging a break-in.

More »

Pregnant Woman Gunned Down in Liberty City

crimescene.jpg
Violence once again erupted in Liberty City last night as a pregnant woman was gunned down in the streets at 10 p.m. last night. The incident happened in the 1200 block of Northwest 53rd Street.

It's unknown if the woman was an innocent bystander or the intended target of the attack.

More »

Miami Beach Police Find Dead Man at Marseilles Hotel

marseilles.jpg
Nothing rings in the new year like a suspicious death in Miami Beach.

According to city police spokeswoman Det. Vivian Hernandez, homicide detectives are investigating a dispute between a couple who were staying at the Marseilles Hotel at 1741 Collins Ave.

Police found the man dead in his room early on New Year's Day.

More »

Arrest Made in Halloween Murder at Taverna Opa

sagyshacar.jpg
Revelry turned to tragedy this past Halloween at Taverna Opa in Mary Brickell Village when a man in a red devil mask punched another man so hard it eventually lead to his death. Two months later, Miami police have now arrested Sagy Shachar for the deadly attack.

More »

Suspect Arrested In South Beach Murder of Transgender Woman Rosita Hidalgo

rene.jpg
Nine months ago, Rosita Hidalgo, a transgender Cuban woman living in South Beach, was found murdered in her apartment, the victim of 23 stab wounds. There were no initial suspects or leads, and friends worried that her death would go unsolved.

Early Monday morning, however, the Miami Beach Police Department announced that they had made an arrest, charging Miguel Angel Pavon with Hidalgo's murder. Thanks to DNA evidence left at the crime scene, investigators were able to track down Pavon, who is also the prime suspect in the murder of a prostitute who was beaten to death in June 2011.

See also:
- Rosita Hidalgo: Transgender Murder on South Beach
More »

Craig Mitchell Wanted in Miami Rapper Bizzle's Murder

craigmitchellbizzle.jpg
Mitchell
Craig Mitchell is wanted by Miami Police in connection to the murder of Miami rapper Bizzle. The department issued a warrant for the 39-year-old's arrest today, and investigators believe he is the man who killed Robert "Bizzle" Labranche at a Liberty City car wash earlier this month.

See also:
- Miami Rapper Bizzle Shot And Killed At Liberty City Car Wash
- Bizzle, Murdered Miami Rapper, Was A Strip Club Star and a Family Man

More »

DJ Seasunz to Murder Victim: "Good and Evil... Have Chosen Me to Be Their Leader"

dj_seasunz.jpg
DJ Seasunz
Also read DJ Seasunz: A Murder Killed a Nightlife Scene.

After Juan Carlos Portieles, AKA DJ Seasunz, murdered his teenaged girlfriend, Jaclyn Torrealba, in October 2009, investigators began to comb through the wealth of correspondence the two had amassed in their two-year relationship. Police and prosecutors unearthed dozens of pages of text messages between the two, and records of hundreds of phone conversations, including more than 200 in the period between the beginning of September and Torrealba's death on October 11. But perhaps the most illuminating find was an undated, handwritten letter, full of bizarre statements about forgiveness and love, that Portieles had composed for the girl.

In the letter, which Portieles addressed to "Jaclyn, aka beautiful," the DJ and promoter expressed his undying love for a girl nearly half his age, telling her that their relationship would be "the greatest love story ever told." But the letter also gave disturbing glimpses into his substance abuse, his anger, and his deteriorating mental state, including a belief that he would be a warrior for good and evil.
More »

From the Vault

 

©2013 Miami New Times, LLC, All rights reserved.
Loading...