Deputies located what they believe to be the body of missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano, the Orange County Sheriff said Saturday.
At news conference, Sheriff John Mina said what they believe to be Marcano’s body was found in a wooded area in the area of Tymber Skan on the Lake Condominiums in Orlando at approximately 10:45 a.m. Saturday.
"About an hour ago detectives notified Miya's parents of our tragic news," Mina said. "Our hearts are broken, and I told you Thursday that hundreds of Orange County Sheriff's Office personnel were committed to this case and working very hard. Everyone wanted this outcome to be different."
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Marcano had not been seen since Wednesday, September 22.
Although an official identification has not been made by a medical examiner, Mina said they are very confident it is Marcano.
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"Although we are very certain of the identity, the positive identification will have to come from the medical examiner's office," Mina said. "At this time. We cannot identify a cause of death, so I don't want to speculate on that. The most important thing right now is that unfortunately we have found what we believe to be the remains of Miya."
A purse with her identification and belongings were found with the body, Mina said.
The man identified as the prime suspect, Armando Cabellero, 27, was found dead of an apparent suicide Monday.
Police said Cabellero had previously lived at the Tymber Skan apartments.
At a news conference earlier this week, the sheriff said that Marcano had repeatedly “rebuffed” romantic advances by Caballero. Detectives spoke to Caballero after Marcano was reported missing, but had no evidence to detain him at that time. They obtained a warrant for his arrest after learning that he had entered her apartment before she disappeared. His body was then found inside a garage.
Deputies were able to locate Marcano's body by tracking Cabellero's cell phone records and they led them to the location where he had been on the Friday she disappeared, Mina said.
Orange County investigators say their prime suspect, Armando Caballero, used a master key fob to enter Miya’s first floor apartment on Friday, September 24.
Cell phone data shows Caballero traveled to the Timber Skan apartments, about 25 minutes from Arden Villas, police say he was there around 8 p.m. Friday.
Marcano, a Valencia College student, was last seen just before 5 p.m. that Friday; her family reported her missing after she missed a flight home to South Florida that evening.
The FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement had joined in the search, and more than 60 detectives were working exclusively on the case, the sheriff said Friday, with a total of about 176 personnel across Orange, Seminole and Volusa counties assisting in the search, which included trained dogs from multiple agencies, helicopters, dive teams and digital methods.
"As a community, as a sheriff, as a father, you know, obviously we are grieving the loss of Miya. Again, we can't imagine the pain and anguish that Miya's parents, the family, the loved ones and the friends and really our entire community have gone through and will continue to go through," Mina said.
This is a developing story. Check back on the NBC 6 app for updates.
