FBI joins search for missing Valencia College student Miya Marcano

The FBI is now assisting local agencies in the search for missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano, according to the Orange County sheriff, as worried family members and friends plan to hold another vigil outside of her apartment complex on Friday evening.

Family and friends also passed out flyers in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, on Thursday which is where law enforcement was expected to continue its search on Friday, CBS Miami reported.

“Not including what’s happening today and right now, our emergency response team and others have conducted nearly 30 searches, since Miya has been missing, that spans three different counties and has included about 175 personnel,” said Sheriff John Mina during a news briefing Thursday.

Information and tips are being used to target specific areas in the search. Mina said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement provided a canine trained in locating electronics, specifically cell phones. Mina said he would not go into specifics on the role the FBI is playing in the investigation but said they are assisting “in the manner of technology.”

Marcano, a Valencia College student, vanished on September 24 just before she was supposed to fly to Fort Lauderdale to visit her family, authorities said.

Investigators announced Monday that a person of interest in her disappearance, Armando Manuel Caballero, was found dead at an apartment complex in Seminole County from an apparent suicide. Mina said Caballero was a maintenance worker at Arden Villas since June and had accessed Marcano’s apartment using a master key.

The sheriff said they believed Caballero is responsible, though “we don’t know all the circumstances involved in what happened there.” He also mentioned the sheriff’s office was given video that led to a search warrant being issued for Caballero’s apartment and car “in less than 24 hours of us responding to the scene.”

On Thursday morning, deputies were ramping up search efforts at the Arden Villas Apartments complex. Residents said they received notice officers would be entering occupied garages and storage units as part of the investigation.

“Our civilian analysts are working on all manner of digital resources and social media in their quest to find Miya and our forensics detectives are processing all the evidence that we have collected in this case. So, we’ve issued search warrants, investigative subpoenas, tracking orders for cell phones,” he said.