Police say they’ve caught potential ‘serial killer’ after man arrested in Florida over murder of two women
The killer targeted women who he ‘clearly thought would not be missed,’ murdering them before dumping their bodies on the road ‘like they were trash’
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A potential ‘serial killer’ has been caught by Florida police after two women were found strangled to death around a month apart.
Carlos Yadiel Baez-Nieves, 24, was arrested by Orange County officers on Friday in connection to the horrific deaths of 41-year-old Fatia Flowers and 44-year-old Nichole Daniels, who were found dead on separate occasions in March and April.
"Because of our detectives’ relentless efforts in this case, they stopped Baez-Nieves from becoming a prolific serial killer," Orange County Sheriff John Mina said during a press conference on Monday.
The suspect, who moved to Florida from Puerto Rico four years ago, was arrested during a traffic stop for driving with a suspended license on Friday, but was also charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Police said that while detectives were interviewing Mr Baez-Nieves, he confessed to both murders.
Flowers’ body was found on 14 March at the intersection, and just over a month later on 17 April, Daniels’ body was also found in the same area.
The night before Daniels went missing, she was seen on surveillance footage entering a distinctive white Ford pickup truck, that police were able to trace back to Mr Baez-Nieves, who was actually in the process of trying to sell the vehicle, police said.
The investigators believed that he went for vulnerable targets, such as sex workers, and had sex with them before he put an end to their lives by strangling them.
“Baez-Nieves clearly targeted women who he clearly thought would not be missed. He murdered them and dumped their bodies on the side of the road like they were trash,” Mr Mina told reporters at the conference.
“But our detectives knew that Fatia and Nichole’s lives were meaningful – and that they are worthy of justice.”
After allegedly killing the two women, police then claim Mr Baez-Nieves drove their bodies to an intersection and pushed them onto the roadside out of his truck before driving back home.
Detectives started to become suspicious that the deaths of the two women were in some way connected after their bodies were found in the same location on separate occasions, leading to the discovery of other similarities in the two cases.
The investigation found that both victims were transient in the East Orlando area, had a history of narcotics use, and their bodies were found nude or nearly nude, an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox News stated.
Due to the nature of the case, police are now working to see if any other person may have fallen victim to Mr Baez-Nieves and are assessing other similar incidents.
"He killed two women in a month’s time, so to me, that is the definition of a serial killer,” Mr Mina said. “But I think this is a person who is clearly capable of doing this and may have done it in the past, and the fact that he targeted women that he thought would not be missed leads you to believe as well that he is a killer and probably would have killed again.”
The suspect is being held without bond in Orange County Jail on two counts of first-degree murder.