ORLANDO, Fla. — It's been nearly a month since Miya Marcano was reported missing by family. Since then, the 19-year-old Florida college student's body has been discovered by authorities, leading to a groundswell of support from friends, family and the general public.
However, the news of her disappearance and subsequent murder has raised more questions than answers. And, one person pointing them out is the Marcano's family attorney.
Marcano's body was found in early October in a wooded area near the Tymbar Skan apartments bound with duct tape around her wrists, feet and mouth.
Daryl K. Washington, who represents the Marcano family, says a recently released and heavily redacted incident report by the Orange County Sheriff's Office leaves out some "critical details" surrounding Marcano's case.
For starters, the attorney says "a number of things" conflict with witness statements and physical evidence. But, the main person the family attorney is concerned with is Armando Caballero - the maintenance worker at the apartment complex where Marcano lived and worked.
Caballero was named a person of interest in her disappearance but was later found dead by suicide in his own apartment.
The Marcano family attorney says Deputy Paulino, who, according to an incident report, responded to Marcano's apartment the day she was reported missing, had ample evidence to at least detain Caballero. In the report, the deputy does detail the fact that Caballero admitted he tried to date Marcano but was rejected. He also reported of witnesses claiming that Caballero had been stalking Marcano.
However, Caballero was never detained.
"Deputy Paulino’s actions fall below the national standards and for the manner in which he handled the investigation, Washington is calling for Deputy Paulino to be terminated," Washington's law firm said in a statement.
This isn't the first time the family's attorney has criticized the Orange County Sheriff's Office's handling of Marcano's disappearance.
In response to previous criticisms, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said "deputies are not permitted to arrest or detain someone based on a hunch or based on what someone else is saying...Instead, they must establish facts to justify such a detention."
Mina has also explained that sadly, detaining Caballero that night would not have changed the fact that investigators say he left her body at the apartments between 8-9 p.m. the night before.
He has also explained that what took place at the apartments was a full eight hours before the sheriff's office was called to check on the well-being of Marcano.
10 Tampa Bay has reached out to the Orange County Sheriff's Office for a statement on Washington calling on the department to fire Deputy Paulino. We will update this story once we receive a response.