Crime and Public Safety |

Feds will take over horrific Seminole carjacking case

Federal authorities will now helm the investigation of the April 11 killing of Katherine Guerrero De Aguasvivas, the Homestead woman carjacked in Winter Springs and found dead in Osceola County, as it appears connected to a larger drug trafficking operation spanning several Central Florida counties.

The decision was announced Monday by Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma, 18 days after Guerrero De Aguasvivas was kidnapped at gunpoint in broad daylight. Three people have been named in connection with her death, two of whom were tied directly to the carjacking itself, including Jordanish Torres-Garcia, who investigators said is the masked man depicted on video emerging from a green Acura sedan with an AR-15 and hopping in the backseat of the woman’s SUV.

While he has yet to be charged in the carjacking, Kevin Ocasio Justiniano was named as the other passenger of the Acura. He was arrested in Puerto Rico on drug and weapons charges and is expected to be extradited to Central Florida.

A third suspect — Giovany Crespo Hernandez, believed to have been the last person to speak with Guerrero De Aguasvivas — is charged by authorities in Seminole County for trafficking fentanyl.

“What we witnessed with the murder are probably symptoms of a larger problem,” said Lemma. The investigation has connected the victim’s horrific death — she was shot and her body set on fire — to the brutal killing of a tow truck driver in Orange County, and has revealed potential ties to a larger drug trafficking organization.

U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg, who appeared alongside Lemma at Monday’s press conference, said that what happened to Guerrero De Aguasvivas was a targeted, not random, act that “led to a targeted local, state and federal law enforcement investigation.”

While the press conference provided the most complete overview to date of the shocking case, no other new details were provided, but Handberg pledged to continue the investigation to “neutralize any threat to the public.”

“This investigation will not stop until we’ve exhausted every lead, until we’ve interviewed every witness, until we have reviewed every piece of evidence and document in the case,” Handberg said. “Our investigation has been and will continue to be methodical, comprehensive, meticulous and unrelenting.”

According to federal documents, Ocasio Justiniano is a known drug dealer with a gang mentioned in an affidavit as “The 6’s.” It became clear through the course of the broader investigation that Guerrero De Aguasvivas was tasked to deliver money and other items from Homestead to Central Florida at the time of the carjacking.

Court filings in Torres-Garcia’s case revealed he admitted to being paid $1,500 to “deliver” Guerrero De Aguasvivas to an unnamed person and was given her location about 30 minutes before their fateful encounter. Detectives used cellphone records to place Torres-Garcia and Ocasio Justiniano inside the Acura at the time of the kidnapping.

It’s not clear what role, if any, Crespo Hernandez played in the kidnapping, and he has not been accused of being involved.

The Acura also appears to be tied to the killing of Juan Luis Cintron Garcia, a tow truck driver gunned down in Orange County the day before Guerrero De Aguasvivas was killed. Investigators said he was shot at dozens of times with 10mm rounds, the same rounds found at the scene where Guerrero De Aguasvivas’ car and body were discovered.

“Even if it that’s not related to this in some way, we are still going to investigate that particular murder, which is a gruesome murder,” Handberg said. “If we can bring federal charges in that Orange County case, we’re going to do that as well.”