Man Charged With Wife's Murder After Human Remains Found
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Mabel Montesino getting the news she dreaded, confirmation that her sister is dead. Maribel Torres was last seen in November. "I knew she was never going to come home," she said crying while speaking to reporters.
Thursday, divers found, what appears to be her body, in a Dania beach canal. "My dad called me with the detective on the phone to tell me that they had found a body that matched my sister's description in a canal," said Montesino.
Maribel's husband Jimmy Torres is accused of killing her. He appeared in bond court. "Sir, I'm holding you no bond on this charge," the judge said.
For 7 months, the family had no answers, then someone came forward with information that cracked the case wide open. "The witness provided information to the detectives that Jimmy Joseph Torres had an argument with the victim, struck her in the head with a metal rod killing her and then dragged her out into the backyard and concealed her in a box," said Miami-Dade Police Lt. Juan Villalba.
The witness told police Torres moved the remains to Dania Beach, placing the body and box into the canal. Maribel's sister said Torres told multiple stories of what happened to her even making it appear she was still alive. "We were receiving text messages from my sister's phone saying that she had moved to homestead, that she had found a new job," she said.
Now learning Maribel is gone and her husband is accused of the crime, the family want's justice. "I want him to rot in prison," Montesino said. "I want him to go to jail for the rest of his life and never be able to come out and destroy any more families."
The mysterious disappearance of the Miami-Dade woman last year was solved after human remains were found in a box near a canal off Old Griffin Road in Dania Beach.
Last April, 33-year-old Torres was reported missing by her father. He said the last time he saw her was around the Thanksgiving holiday last year. Torres told investigator he thought his daughter's husband, 36-year-old Jimmy Torres, had something to do with her disappearance.
Torres had told his father-in-law that Maribel had gotten pregnant by another man and had run off with him, abandoning their children. He told investigators that the last time he saw his wife was in December when she packed her bags and left.
On Thursday, police say a witness provided new information about Torres' disappearance to the Missing Persons Unit.
The witness reportedly told the police that Torres had confessed to killing his wife.
According to the witness, "Torres stated that he was in a physical altercation with the victim when he struck the victim with a metal rod on the head, she collapsed to the ground, was unresponsive, and bleeding profusely."
Torres then dragged her to the backyard and placed her in a box, according to the witness.
Torres then took the box and dumped it near the canal off Old Griffin Road, a spot where he and Maribel "would relax near the water's edge," according to his arrest report.
Detectives went to the area where Torres had reportedly dumped the box, according to the witness, and found it. Inside were human remains which were turned over to the medical examiner's office for identification.
Torres was then taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder with a weapon.