A grieving brother is calling for justice after two tourists were found shot to death inside a parked car in a downtown Miami garage, as police urge the public to come forward with information.
The victims, identified as 35-year-old Chastidy Charlotte Rodriguez of New York City and 31-year-old Darious Coon of Detroit, were discovered last Saturday around 10 a.m. on the 10th floor of a parking garage near Northeast 4th Street and 2nd Avenue, just west of Biscayne Boulevard and Bayfront Park.
According to Miami Police, both had been shot several times. Investigators believe the pair had only recently met while visiting Miami.
Family seeks answers, appeals to community
Rodriguez’s brother, who spoke to CBS News Miami on condition of anonymity, described his sister as kind-hearted and devoted.
“She was a good person and a good mother. Everyone around her would tell you she has a good heart,” he said.
Determined to seek justice, he added, “We don’t want this to be another case. We want justice. She did not deserve to go out this way. We hope that the detective will find the person guilty of this, or maybe if it was more than one person, all of them will face the consequences of justice.”
He also expressed the family’s need for clarity about what happened: “We hope to know the motive because it is not fair to us to not know why someone did this and why she had to leave us so early in life.”
Police review surveillance, urge witnesses to come forward
Miami Police spokesperson Officer Mike Vega said the department had been alerted that the victims were missing prior to their discovery. The investigation began after someone reported a foul odor coming from the vehicle.
Vega said it’s possible the bodies had been in the car since the prior Wednesday. “This is a 3 to 4-day investigation and it does not appear to be a robbery because both people in the vehicle still had their belongings with them,” he noted.
“We need anyone who was near the parking lot between the 16th and 19th and who heard any shots being fired or observed anything weird or suspicious to contact us,” Vega said.
He added that detectives are combing through several days of surveillance footage: “We have 3 or 4 days’ worth of video to go through frame by frame to see when the car entered the building and parked there. We are looking at a lot of surveillance video.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Miami Police or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
