By: Staff Writer
March 25, 2022
With the passing of Miya’s law in Florida, the Marcano family is “moved to tears” by the Florida legislature’s action on her murder.
Jodi Covington-Lewis, spokesperson for the family of Ms Marcano, told Caribbean Magazine Plus via email: “The Marcano/ Scarbriel family was moved to tears when both the Florida House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously voted to pass Miya’s Law.
“The bill must now obtain the signature of the Florida Governor to be made law. If the Governor signs Miya’s Law, it will become law in the State of Florida on July 1, 2022.
“Miya’s mother used the world ‘gratitude’ and ‘thankful’ and Miya’s father, Marlon Marcano stated, ‘although this will not bring my daughter back us, I hope this will protect other families from experiencing what we experienced.’”
“Ultimately, Miya’s Law does three things. One, it increases the notice a landlord must give a tenant from 12 to 24 hours. Two, it mandates that all complex employees must have a level 2 background check and stipulates the inability for those convicted of violent crimes from gaining access into units and three, it mandates that management companies must keep a master log of who has entered residents’ units.”
Miya is the daughter of well known Trinidadian DJ, Marlon Marcano who was murdered nearly six months ago allegedly by a man who worked in her apartment building. Florida lawmakers have passed a bill mandating stronger protections for tenants.
“Miya’s Law,” which passed last week Friday in the state legislature, now mandates landlords and building managers require background checks for all prospective employees, reinforces requirements regarding access to individual units and requires landlords to give tenants 24 hours notice if a repairs need to take place.
Marcano missed a Sept. 24 flight from Orlando to visit her family in South Florida, and her family asked the Sheriff’s Office to check on her at the Arden Villas apartments near UCF, where she lived and worked.
During that welfare check, the deputy found Marcano’s bedroom door was blocked from opening by a dresser, which meant a roommate had to enter Marcano’s room from a back window, the statement said, adding that a responding deputy “noticed the window had been tampered with.”
Her body was bound with black duct tape across her mouth and tape also tying her hands and feet together on October 2nd. She was found wearing jeans and a bra, as well as a robe and her purse was found nearby containing the shirt she was last seen wearing. Her death was ruled a homicide by the Florida’s medical examiner’s office.
Orlando Police have said 27-year-old Armando Caballero, a maintenance employee at the Arden Villas complex where Marcano worked and lived, was waiting for her inside her apartment Sept. 24, before he killed her and dumped her body at another Orlando area apartment complex.
