A family is remembering a woman who was murdered last month in Central Florida as authorities announced the arrest of the suspect, who they called a potential serial killer. NBC6’s Niko Clemmons reports
A family is remembering a woman who was murdered last month in central Florida as authorities announced the arrest of the suspect, who they called a potential serial killer.
When Davaughn Whitehead thinks of his mom, the word "loving" comes to mind. Antonia Heath — who was also known as Fatia Flowers — was a sister, aunt and niece, who cared about her family, and they cared about her.
“I get a lot of my happiness from her, she was smart, funny, she was a fighter,” Whitehead told NBC6. “She was just everything I could ask for in a mom.”
Whitehead said he was at school in Orlando when he got the news last month that someone had killed his mom.
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“Knowing that my mom is not going to call me on my birthday anymore to tell me happy birthday, she's not going to be able to meet her grandkids,” Whitehead said. “It was just sad just to know that my mom's not here with us anymore.”
For more than a month, detectives in Orange County searched for her killer. Then on Monday, Sheriff John Mina held a news conference to announce the arrest of 24-year-old Carlos Yadiel Baez-Nieves in the killings of 41-year-old Flowers and 44-year-old Nichole Daniels.
“Our detectives' vigilance may have stopped a potential serial killer,” Mina said.
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Detectives said Baez-Nieves strangled both women on separate days and dumped their bodies at the same intersection. Detectives found Flowers in March and Daniels earlier this month. The sheriff said both women traded money for sex.
“Baez-Nieves targeted the most vulnerable women he could target,” Mina said.
Whitehead said his mom wasn't perfect, but he loved her.
“I'd like to make sure her memory, her legacy lives on,” Whitehead said.
He said he feels relieved knowing detectives found the man responsible and his family can start to heal.
“Justice is going to be done and he's going to get his,” Whitehead said. “Now that he's behind bars he can't hurt or harm anybody else.”
The sheriff said Baez-Nieves confessed to killing both women. Detectives are now trying to see if he's killed anyone else.
