A man was linked to two separate murders in Miami and Miami Beach, including the killing of a man he was in an intimate relationship with, authorities said. NBC6’s Briana Nespral reports
A man was linked to two separate murders in Miami and Miami Beach, including the killing of a man he was in an intimate relationship with, authorities said Thursday.
Zsolt Zsolyomi, 25, a Hungarian national, is charged with second-degree murder in both cases, according to jail records. Both victims were elderly, disabled men, according to Miami police.
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WATCH HEREOn Jan. 19, a man was found dead in the driver's seat of a vehicle near Northwest 14th Avenue and Second Street in Little Havana, according to an arrest warrant. The victim, identified as 71-year-old Rodolfo Fernandez de Velasco, was found with both front seatbelts around his neck.
The victim had sustained trauma, and police only concluded his manner of death as a homicide. According to the warrant, surveillance cameras nearby captured the vehicle crashing into a fence and a man jumping out of the vehicle and fleeing the area.
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Detectives later matched fingerprints from the vehicle to Zsolyomi.
Zsolyomi is also accused of a murder back in November when a man was found dead in his Miami Beach apartment after family members repeatedly tried to reach him, the warrant said.
The victim, a 66-year-old man, was discovered unresponsive with his head and upper body partially submerged in the bathtub with water, according to the warrant. The medical examiner later ruled he died by strangulation.
Detectives discovered Zsolyomi went by the fictitious name "Thomas" and that he and the victim were in an intimate relationship. They found text conversations, pictures of the two together, and doorbell camera footage of the pair entering and leaving the Miami Beach apartment.
Text conversations also revealed the victim accusing Zsolyomi of beating him and stealing from him, the warrant said. He also sent a photo of his injured eye. Zsolyomi first denied beating him, but then responded with, "Sometimes I don't know what I do when I'm drunk" and apologized several times.
The victim threatened to call the police on Zsolyomi if Zsolyomi didn't return his stolen property, and even revealed that he knew Zsolyomi's real name, date of birth and jail number.
Police say security cameras caught the suspect entering and leaving the apartment the night before Villaquiran’s body was found inside.
According to detectives, Zsolyomi is a Hungarian national currently listed as an illegal overstay by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He wore an ankle monitor after he was released from custody from a robbery arrest in Miami Beach in July of 2024.
Authorities are asking anyone who may have been victimized by Zsolyomi or who has information related to similar cases to contact the Miami Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 305-603-6350.
