Orlando deputy’s arrest linked to woman’s fatal carjacking | Miami Herald

About five minutes after an Orange County deputy got off the phone with a Seminole County detective working the case of a Homestead woman carjacked at gunpoint and murdered in Central Florida last week, the deputy sent a recording of that conversation to the victim’s husband, according to court documents.

It’s the latest detail in the mystery of why Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, 31, traveled from Homestead to Seminole County near Orlando last Thursday, where she was carjacked at gunpoint by a man wearing a hoodie and Halloween mask, shot to death, and her body found in a torched SUV at a construction site later that night, police say.

The case spans multiple counties and investigators say the same green 2002 Acura the kidnappers used to carjack Aguasvivas’ white Dodge Durango near the suburban community of Winter Springs is connected to the shooting death of a tow truck driver, Juan Luis Cintron Garcia, 39, the day before in Orange County.

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On Sunday, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the lead investigative agency in the case, arrested Orange County Deputy Francisco Alberto Estrella Chicon, 33, on multiple felonies.

Aguasvivas’ husband, Miguel Aguasvivas, contacted Estrella Chicon when he and her brother, Luis Fernando Abreu, were driving up to Seminole County last Thursday to meet with detectives there about the carjacking, according to a Seminole County arrest report.

After getting off the phone with Miguel, Estrella Chicon, using a bogus name, called the lead Seminole County detective on the case and said he was a detective with Orange County and Katherine Aguasvivas’ maternal cousin, according to the report. He told the detective he was concerned about his cousin and asked how the case was progressing.

She told him she could not discuss the case with him, but also asked him if he knew why Katherine Aguasvivas was in the area. He responded that he was not in regular contact with her and did not know.

Recorded the conversation with lead investigator, report says

What the detective did not know was that Estrella Chicon was video recording the conversation with her and also accessing a police database pulling her professional credentials and her driver’s license information, including her address.

After the roughly three-minute conversation, Estrella Chicon sent the video recording to Miguel through the Whatsapp messaging app, the report states.

The video, sent to Miguel around 11:05 p.m. last Thursday, clearly shows Estrella Chicon pulling up the police database, and detectives say in the report he was using a laptop commonly issued to law enforcement officers.

Estrella Chicon’s attorney, Corey Cohen, declined to comment on his client’s case, citing an open investigation and that he has not yet been officially charged. His arrest report lists several felonies, including use of a two-way device in the commission of a felony, eavesdropping, invasion of privacy and accessing a computer or electronic device without authorization. He has entered a written plea of not guilty.

Seminole County detectives discovered that Estrella Chicon sent the video after Miguel voluntarily handed over his cell phone to them, according to the report.

Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma told reporters earlier this week that Miguel is a childhood friend of Estrella Chicon’s wife.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said it hired Estrella Chicon in September 2022 and he was not promoted to detective. He has been relieved of all law enforcement duties without pay “while the criminal case is underway.

“These are very serious criminal allegations. It is completely unacceptable for any law enforcement officer to misuse the power and authority of their job,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in a statement. “At the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, we hold our deputies to the highest ethical standards, and we will not tolerate anyone breaking the law within our ranks.”

A judge released Estrella Chicon from Seminole County jail Thursday on a $15,000 bond for the five counts he’s facing. He has to wear a GPS monitor.

Cohen, his attorney, filed a motion Tuesday to set bond, stating his “incarceration is causing a tremendous financial hardship on the family.” The filing states Estrella Chicon is supporting his wife, his 3-year-old daughter and a 10-year-old stepson.

The motion also states that before becoming an Orange County deputy, Estrella Chicon served five years as a corrections officer at Rikers Island, New York City’s largest jail.

The carjacking and killing

Katherine Aguasvivas was kidnapped shortly before 6 p.m. on April 11 at the intersection of East Lake Drive and Tuskawilla Road in unincorporated Seminole County near Winter Springs, according to investigators. Tuskawilla is a large suburban community with fountains gracing its entrance off Tuskawilla Road.

Before stopping at the red light, she called her husband saying she was being followed by a green Acura that was repeatedly ramming the back of her Durango.

While she was stopped at the intersection, a man wearing a black hoodie and a Halloween mask got out of the green Acura behind her, walked up to her window, pointed a rifle at her and hopped into the back seat of the Durango.

The Durango, with the Acura following, then drove away from the intersection when the light turned green. A person in a vehicle behind the Acura filmed what they presumed to be a carjacking in progress on cellphone video widely shared online.

A witness told police that before the cars stopped at the intersection, someone in the Acura stuck his hands out of the car and waved to the Durango “in what appeared to be a friendly manner.” However, the driver of the Acura then began ramming the Dodge, trying to push it into the curb.

The Durango was found torched with a burned body inside it at a construction site in Osceola County later that night, investigators say. Osceola County is the county south of Orlando’s Orange County, where Kissimmee is. Seminole is the county north of Orange.

Witnesses also reported hearing multiple gunshots before the SUV was found. Police say they are waiting on results from a DNA test and dental records to confirm that the body is Katherine Aguasvivas. Estrella Chicon’s arrest report states Katherine Aguasvivas was shot and killed.

Investigators believe she was targeted, but they do not know why. According to Lemma, the Seminole County sheriff, Miguel said his wife traveled to Central Florida to visit family, but investigators have not been able to confirm she has kin in the area.

The couple, originally from the Dominican Republic, ran a hair salon in Homestead.

The Miami Herald left a message on the cell phone number listed on a for-sale sign on the back of the Durango, which police say is Miguel’s, but he did not respond.

Lemma said Miguel is not a suspect or person of interest at this point, but he believes he has more information that could help investigators with the case.

“I think there are a lot more blanks that he can help fill in about the circumstances involving this particular case, and now, other cases,” Lemma said during a media briefing Monday.

The green Acura connection

Investigators made a breakthrough in the case earlier this week when they found the Acura they believe the carjackers used to tail Katherine Aguasvivas’ Durango parked in an Orange County apartment complex.

The car had been circulating between owners and used car lots in Central Florida since around February, Lemma said, adding that once it was found, it was easy to connect to the crime because it is the only green 2002 Acura currently registered in the state.

“We immediately knew it was our car,” Lemma said.

Investigators say the same car is linked to the murder of Cintron Garcia, the tow truck driver. Detectives say he was shot the day before Katherine Aguasvivas was killed.

Police have not released a motive in that murder, but said Cintron Garcia hauled the Acura away from an Orange County apartment parking lot on March 19.

Detectives said they found the same spent ammunition at both the crime scenes of Cintron Garcia and Katherine Aguasvivas — 10 millimeter bullets. And, at Cintron Garcia’s crime scene, there were more than 100 spent casings on the ground, Lemma said.

The sheriff said that while there is nothing special about the ammunition, it is not a commonly used bullet.

“A 10 millimeter is just a round that is more rare than the 9 millimeters and .45 calibers that we see out there,” Lemma said. “The only significance of that is it makes a better connection to the two crimes.”

This story was originally published April 18, 2024 12:08 PM.