A woman accused of arranging the murder of her ex-boyfriend in Cutler Bay more than a decade ago was found not guilty. NBC 6’s Steve Litz reports
A woman accused of arranging the murder of her ex-boyfriend in Cutler Bay more than a decade ago was found not guilty Friday.
A 12-member jury on Friday exonerated 33-year-old Dianelis de la Caridad-Fonseca in the July 2012 killing of 25-year-old Richard Vasallo.
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Authorities had said de la Caridad-Fonseca arranged to pay $600 to Jose Martin Perez-Sanchez, a Mexican national, and engage in an arranged marriage to establish permanent U.S. residency for him, in exchange for killing Vasallo.
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De la Caridad-Fonseca had been accused of luring Vasallo to a desolate area where he was fatally wounded.
A passerby spotted Vasallo walking on the street bleeding in the area of Southwest 98th Court and 216th Street in the Montego Bay subdivision in Cutler Bay.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue workers responded and Vasallo was pronounced dead at the scene.
De la Caridad-Fonseca and Perez-Sanchez were arrested shortly after the killing. According to an arrest affidavit, de la Caridad-Fonseca and Perez-Sanchez both confessed to the killing.
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During her trial, defense attorneys said Martin took it upon himself to kill Vasallo. They also said investigators forced the confession out of de la Caridad-Fonseca.
Perez-Sanchez, now 31, is also charged with first-degree murder and is due in court later this month.
Vasallo was a Florida International University engineering graduate and a teacher at Homestead Technical School.
