Sunshine Sentinel

A medical examiner earlier this week confirmed that a body at an Orlando apartment complex last weekend is that of college student Miya Marcano.

The medical examiner taking part in the investigation deferred most other information requests to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Miya Marcano in a photo posted to her Facebook page in March | facebook.com/miya.marcano/

"A positive identification of a female whose body was recovered in a wooded area on October 2, 2021, has been identified as Miya Marcano," Orange and Osceola Counties Chief Medical Examiner said in a widely published statement issued Tuesday, Oct. 5. "This case is currently under active law enforcement investigation and any further requests for information, including cause and manner of death, will be deferred to the Orange County Sheriff's Office."

The Orange County Sheriff's Office already believed the body discovered in a wooded area near Tymber Skan on the Lake apartment complex off South Texas Avenue in Orlando was that of Marcano. In a Twitter post Saturday, Oct. 2, the sheriff's office announced that Marcano's body "has been discovered" and that detectives "have notified Miya's parents of this tragic news."

A purse containing Miya Marcano's personal identification information was found near the wooded area where the body was found, NBC News reported.

The college sophomore was last seen Sept. 24.

"Sheriff John Mina and the men and women of the Orange County Sheriff's Office extend our deepest condolences to Miya's family, friends and loved ones," the sheriff's office's Twitter post said. The post also linked to a video clip of the sheriff's news conference.

"Obviously this is not the update that I wanted to give to everyone today," Mina said during the conference

Mina also provided details about the office's emergency response team's search of the wooded area and the team's discovery of the body now confirmed to be Marcano's. The apartment complex came under scrutiny after cellphone records indicated that Armando Manuel Caballero, a person of interest in the case who subsequently committed suicide, was "in or near" the area prior to Marcano being reported missing, Mina said.

"Our hearts a broken," Mina said. "I told you Thursday that hundreds of Orange County Sheriff's office personnel were committed to this case, working very hard. Everyone wanted this outcome to be different."  

Mina declined to "speculate" about the cause of Marcano's death, adding that his office is not "looking for any other people" related to the crime, investigators believe Caballero was "responsible for this crime."

Caballero was an Arden Villas maintenance worker thought to have accessed Marcano's apartment without her permission and an arrest warrant had been issued for Caballero on a burglary, according to multiple news reports.