The 28-year-old man arrested for being involved in a deadly carjacking in Florida that left a woman dead reportedly claimed he was given $1,500 to deliver the victim to another individual.
In addition, Jordanish Torres-Garcia also told law enforcement that before the incident, someone gave him an unloaded AR-15, according to an affidavit obtained by WKMG. Initially labeled as a person of interest, he was charged with carjacking resulting in death following his arrest last week.
Video of the April 11 incident released by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office shows a man authorities have identified as Torres-Garcia pointing the firearm at the driver, 31-year-old Katherine Altagarcia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, before getting onto the back seat of her vehicle.
Behind De Aguasvivas’ white Dodge Durango was a green Acura that kept hitting her truck before the carjacking. Speaking with investigators, Torres-Garcia confessed to being the man in the footage, according to court records. The accused said he and another suspect trailed her until they reached a red light in Winter Springs, about 17 miles from Orlando.
“Garcia stated that minutes before the carjacking, he received a call, advising him that the victim was on her way. According to Garcia, he located and began to follow the victim somewhere in the area of East Lake Drive, at the stop sign of Lake Drive,” the affidavit said. “Garcia initially ‘bumped’ the victim’s vehicle in an attempt to get it to stop, but were unsuccessful. However, the victim’s vehicle was forced to stop at a red light at the intersection of East Lake Dr. and Tuskawilla Road.”
Deputies found De Aguasvivas’ car on fire hours later, the affidavit said. The victim, who officials previously said was hard to identify because “the body badly burned, was shot multiple times. Shell casings were reportedly found on the scene. Her brother informed detectives that she was delivering “money and other stuff from a friend,” the Miami Herald reported.
Torres-Garcia was initially detained by the U.S. Marshals Service for another case but later found to be connected to the carjacking. Officials were able to come to that conclusion due to his Facebook profile photo, which shows him wearing the same outfit as the day of the crime, and his marketplace transactions.
WKMG reported that his alleged accomplice, who was inside the green Acura, was arrested in Puerto Rico on Tuesday. Twenty-eight-year-old Kevin Oscasio faces similar federal charges as Torres-Garcia.
The day before, another man believed to be the last person De Aguasvivas spoke to was also taken into custody. Giovany Crespo Hernandez is facing separate drug charges not linked to the carjacking, the outlet reported. His girlfriend, Monicsabel Romero-Soto, was arrested, too, after she was spotted picking up drugs from an Osceola County residence.
“Everyone who’s watched this has known it’s about drugs and money. Clearly, there’s a drug and money nexus here,” Sheriff Dennis Lemma said, per the local news station.
