Miya Marcano's body positively identified, medical examiner says

ORLANDO, Fla. - A body found at an Orlando apartment complex on Saturday has been confirmed to be missing 19-year-old Miya Marcano.

A medical examiner positively identified the remains as Marcano, who went missing on September 24.

"A positive identification of a female whose body was recovered in a wooded area on October 2, 2021, has been identified as Miya Marcano. 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 Chief Medical Examiner wrote in a statement.

Miya Marcano, 19, was reported missing after she did not board a scheduled flight from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021.

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The attorney for the Marcano family held a news conference on Tuesday afternoon following the medical examiner’s findings to discuss what’s next for the family.

"It’s been a very difficult day for the family. It’s been extremely tough and now the family are left to make funeral arrangements at this time," the attorney said, before turning attention back towards the Arden Villas apartment complex where Miya lived and worked at.

RELATED: UCF Knights to play in honor of Miya Marcano

The person of interest and who law enforcement considers the ‘main and only suspect’ in Miya’s disappearance, Armando Caballero, also worked at the Arden Villas apartment complex as a maintenance employee. He was found dead from an apparent suicide days after Miya was reported missing. It is known that Caballero might have developed a romantic interest in Marcano but she was not interested in that way.

"We still have not personally heard from the Arden Villas apartment complex. I will tell you that has been very disappointing to the family. As we said, not only was Miya a tenant, but Miya was also an employee," the attorney said. "You’d like to think in these days and times that your employer would reach out to the family and offer their condolences. That still has not taken place and it’s just the right thing to do."

He did confirm that on Tuesday that the attorneys for the Arden Villas apartment complex have reached out to him but the employees at the complex have not. He said that he also heard from other tenants that management is often too busy to have time to speak.

The attorney believes that an extensive enough check was not performed on Caballero’s background as he has apparent other concerns from his past.

"I will tell you over the course of the last day or so, what we have learn about this young man — and again, I don’t like to reference him as a young man because he was indeed a predator, what he did this to this young lady — but again, what we have learned is that this was not his first incident," the attorney explained. "This was not his first incident at the Arden Villas apartment."

He elaborated, stating that he was told by a woman who lived at a previous apartment complex Caballero worked at, that he once entered her apartment, without her permission, and was just standing there. However, the Arden Villas apartment complex said that they conducted an extensive background check on Caballero.

"If they conducted an extensive background check, it definitely was not extensive enough. It was not the type of background check when you are giving someone free access to somebody’s apartment," the attorney said. "That’s something that is very hurtful to the family."

He added, "this was a vibrant, young lady, who was living her life and her life was taken away from her as a result of the negligence from this apartment complex."

Miya Marcano, 19, was reported missing after she did not board a scheduled flight from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021.

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The attorney also questioned what we know about the case and does not believe that this is over yet. For example, he said, "The manner in which this happened, I still have a lot of questions, I have questions of whether it was only that person that was involved in it or was it multiple people. I know that when you look at the window that they allegedly left out of, it’s very strange that one person would be able to pull this off by himself."

He also explained that he believes the Orange County Sheriff’s Office had enough information to take Caballero into custody when they spoke to him after Miya’s disappearance.

"The suspect had bruises on his hands. He had bruises, he had cuts, on his face. There was just a number of things that I think gave them enough credible information to detain this guy," the attorney said. "In fact, what was he doing there at 4 o’clock in the morning? What was the purpose of him being there asking questions? He asked them a question, ‘Are you looking for Miya?’ How is he going to make that type of question, how is he even going to ask that, if he didn’t know anything about what was going on? That alone should have given them enough information to say ‘wait a minute, we really need to talk to this guy.’"

In addition, the attorney said that, "One of the things that we just recently heard just talking to people — it’s very bothersome and I have not been able to confirm it — is that one of the deputies that was actually at the scene made a comment that this was not a priority. And when you have these type of cases, it should always be priority. Parents know their children and if a parent tells you that their kid is missing, that is priority. That becomes an immediate priority."

He began to wrap up the news conference with information on a foundation that the family of Miya Marcano is already working to establish. He said it will advocate for change in law.

Following the news conference, law enforcement announced that they are still working on determining a manner of death.

Miya will also apparently be honored this weekend at a South Florida carnival event.

Watch FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.