Miya Marcano's Family Says Police Did Not Act Quickly Enough to Investigate Disappearance

The family of Miya Marcano, a college student who vanished and was later found dead, said police did not act quickly enough to investigate her disappearance, the Associated Press reported.

The Orange County (Florida) Sheriff's Office released a heavily blacked out report on its response to Marcano's September 24 disappearance, which the family said underscores their claims that law enforcement's actions weren't sufficiently swift.

"The incident report lacks critical details," Marcano family attorney Daryl Washington said on Sunday. "What we do know is that critical hours were lost and if it hadn't been for this family's strength and determination, we may still be searching for Miya."

The suspected killer, Armando Caballero, was found dead from what appeared to be suicide five days before Marcano's body was discovered on October 2, AP reported. Sheriff John Minda said deputies didn't have adequate evidence to detain Caballero in the hours after Marcano went missing, and that she was probably already dead.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

The sheriff's office did not respond to requests for a comment about the allegation that it initially failed to thoroughly investigate Marcano's disappearance.

Marcano was a Valencia College student who lived and worked at the same apartment complex where Caballero, 27, was employed as a maintenance worker. Investigators eventually determined that Caballero used a master key to enter Marcano's apartment.

According to the report, Deputy Samir Paulino arrived at the apartment complex about 9:20 p.m. September 24 after Marcano's mother said her daughter had stopped returning text messages and missed her flight home to South Florida.

Paulino spoke to a roommate who said Marcano texted her about 5 p.m. saying she was heading to the airport. The deputy wrote that her bedroom was locked, but he peered through a window and "nothing suspicious stood out to me."

The deputy apparently then left but returned because he wrote that someone asked if an object "was on the bed," the report said. It wasn't clear who inquired because so much of the report was blacked out.

The deputy returned again at the request of Marcano's relatives, who had driven to the apartment complex from South Florida, arriving after midnight. Paulino then spoke to Caballero, who told him he had found out "from a mutual friend that Miya is missing," the deputy wrote.

The deputy noted that Marcano's relatives said text messages showed Caballero had been stalking her, but he said he was unable to read them.

Washington said the deputy should be fired because his actions fell below national standards.

"Sheriff Mina, in one of his press conferences, stated that Deputy Paulino 'could not detain Caballero based on a hunch,' essentially ratifying the conduct of his deputy," Washington said.

"We believe that Deputy Paulino had more than enough evidence to detain Caballero based on the fact that Caballero had full access to Miya's room, he said that he wanted to date Miya, but she declined his advances, he was driving around the Arden Villas at 3 a.m."