Exclusive: Parents Of Murdered Teen Ask For Help
SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) - The mother and father of 18-year-old Tiffany Cabreja are asking for the public's help in finding a second suspect in their daughter's murder and say they need help paying for her burial.
"I have not slept for four days. I have not eaten. I can't imagine what is going on. I feel a lot of pain inside," said Miriam Vasquez, the mother of Cabreja.
She spoke for the first time since her daughter's death in an exclusive interview with CBS4's Peter D'Oench while she was making funeral arrangements for her daughter and just a few hours after Miami-Dade Police announced that they had made one arrest in this case.
"My daughter was a beautiful child," she told D'Oench. "She was quiet and a loving child. Whoever did this, what they did to her was just horrible. I saw her body and it was horrible what they did to her."
"I want someone to come forward if they know anything," she said. "Please, I beg them, if they have any information, call the detectives in this case. If there is anybody out there who can help, Tiffany was just 18-years-old. She was just a baby. This was horrible."
"I can't sleep either," said Tiffany's father Domingo Cabreja in an exclusive interview. "I wake up sometimes at 5 a.m. I just can't sleep. I feel better now knowing that they arrested the guy. I know my daughter did not know him. They were not friends."
"I hope they catch the second person as soon as possible so he can pay for what he did," said Cabreja.
Miami-Dade Police announced that they had arrested 20-year-old Fernando Granados and charged him with 2nd degree murder. Granados lives just a few blocks away from the construction site where Cabreja's body was found last Saturday morning.
Miami-Dade Police spokesman, Detective Roy Rutland said that it appeared that Granados "was under the influence of crack and killed her."
Police say Granados was picked up by police on Thursday after a tip that he had told a friend that he had killed Cabreja. During his interrogation, police say he confessed and said he had an accomplice.
Police say he said he smoked crack at a Leisure City Park and then left the park with Cabreja. Granados reportedly strangled Cabreja and his accomplice beat her. A ligature or cord was found wrapped around Cabreja's neck and there was a bag over her head.
Police say she died of ligature strangulation and blunt force trauma.
They also say they ruled out Miguel Infante and his girlfriend Raquel Delgado. They had been interrogated overnight before being released Wednesday morning at Miami-Dade Police headquarters.
The landscaping truck that Infante was driving became a focus of the investigation after police released surveillance tape of the truck near the crime scene.
Witnesses told police they saw a woman's body falling from the truck. But Delgado later said that she had jumped from the truck because she was having emotional and mental problems.
Infante said, "I'm just happy this is over. I am an innocent man as I said all along. But I'm angry about this. Four people have come up to me and said you are the murder suspect. I'm glad they caught the real killer."
Delgado said, "There's no words to explain how I feel, to know that your name has been cleared and you have no idea how your name got there in the first place."
"We have been harassed on Facebook. Infante was called a killer. Now he can't get any jobs. I'm angry about this," Delgado said.
Infante told D'Oench that he did not know Tiffany Cabreja.
Meanwhile, Cabreja's parents need help paying for funeral expenses.
"We need a lot of help right now," said Miriam Vasquez.
"I need help," said Domingo Cabreja. "I spent a lot of my money moving into the apartment where I was living with my daughter who I had raised for most of her life. I hope I can get some help."
Domingo Cabreja said there would be a wake or visitation for his daughter at the Palms Woodlawn Funeral Home at Southwest 271st Street and Old Dixie Highway on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to midnight on Sunday. Tiffany Cabreja will be buried on Monday.
If you'd like to help Domingo Cabreja with his funeral expenses for his daughter, go to Neighbors4Neighbors.org. Neighbors for Neighbors will be coordinating the donations and sending them to the family.
Miami-Dade Police are not naming the 2nd suspect in this case. If you can help, call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at (305) 471-tips (8477).
