Arrest made in 2012 murder of Miami teen shot dead while riding bicycle
MIAMI - Nearly 12 years after 16-year-old Bryan Herrera was shot and killed while riding his bicycle three days before Christmas, Miami detectives have made an arrest in the cold case.
Adrian Oneal Grimes, 30, known as "Peanut" or "Nut," is facing charges of first-degree murder and armed robbery with a firearm.
The Miami man had been in federal custody for a drug offense. On Wednesday, Judge Maria Elena Verde-Yanez found probable cause for the charges, denied bond and had him transferred to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
"If it could have happened at anytime this was the perfect time," his stepmother, Anabel Herrera, told CBS News Miami on Thursday. "This Sunday it will be 12 years and every year I have been praying to God please let be this year and finally it was this year.
"It's been rough. We have that added weight on our back because there's been no justice and now we feel that little by little that has been lifted and we hope he can stay in jail so we can live in peace."
Bryan Herrera's death in Allapattah
On Dec. 22, 2012, the teen was riding his bicycle to a friend's house to do group homework when he was shot and killed at Northwest 11th Avenue and Northwest 39th Street, in Allapattah. He was robbed of an Android cellphone.
Police responded at 11:04 a.m. and fire rescue took him to Ryder Trauma Center where he died two hours later.
Loved ones passed out flyers and were joined on Dec. 27, 2012, by then Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
No clues or motive were uncovered.
"MPD exhausted each and every lead and tip provided, yielding no results," according to the arrest affidavit.
In 2019, the family made a new appeal to the public.
"We need somebody to come forward and say something and be willing to testify," Herrera said then to CBS News Miami. "That's the most important thing. Somebody had to see something. He was only a boy. He was only 16. He was not a man. He was a kid and he deserved to live and to enjoy life. We need to get the person out there."
An anonymous tip led to a break in the case
Nestor Amores, assigned to the Cold Case Squad, got that break this summer.
A person only identified as "Mr. W." came forward.
On June 24, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office received an unsolicited call from an attorney that his client had information on the murder.
Amores spoke to the witness on July 11.
"At the meeting, Mr. W.W. states that he was driving to a relative's residence when he turned southbound onto Northwest 11th Avenue and 39th Street and noticed two people, a black male, and a hispanic male, in a struggled with each other," Amores said.
The witness identified the male as Herrera from a single photo.
Mr. W.W. said he tried to stop the struggle by "mentioning the proximity to Christmas and asking, 'can we just get along?'," according to the arrest report.
Then, the witness said he heard the victim mouthing the words "I'm being robbed" as he saw a gun pointed at the victim.
Mr. W.W. decided not to intervene and instead waited in his car.
"Mr. W.W. saw the victim attempt to get out of the black male's grasp when Mr. W.W. heard a gunshot," according to the arrest report.
The man fled the scene on a bicycle.
The witness then went to the home of a neighbor, Ernest Sidney, who had earlier confirmed he called 911 requesting help for the the victim.
Mr. W.W. said he knew the shooter as "Peanut" or "Nut" and said Grimes was recently incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center. The witness said he knew this because they were both there facing drug charges.
The witness identified Grimes due to a particular facial feature: he was missing an eye after allegedly taking part in another shooting and from "several years ago on images when he wasn't missing the eye".
The arrest report didn't explain why the witness took so long to come forward.
In Miami, Grimes was serving a sentence of cocaine sale imposed Oct. 29 for three years. He also has served prison time for various drug offenses between 2014 and 2018.
Some closure for Bryan Herrera's family
"I would like to thank the detectives who worked very hard to solve this case," the victim's mother said. "I would like to thank the State Attorney's Office for their communication in helping us with everything and we are very grateful for that. We put all our trust in the state state attorney and the prosecutors to make sure this person stays in prison for life."
In 2019, she said it was "horrible" that the crime hadn't solved.
"It's ongoing," Anabel Herrera said. "It's something you never get over. It's something you have to relive over and over in your head and know there is no arrest. It doesn't make it any easier."
She said her son was a straight A student at Miami Jackson Senior High School.
"He loved video games," she said in 2019. "He was going to go into robotics. He had a great future ahead of him. He was going to be anything he wanted to be."
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle was pleased to tell the family about the arrest.
"One can never be prepared for the loss of a child due to a senseless act of violence. Parents are left with incomprehensible grief and that is magnified when no one is arrested for the crime," she said in a statement. "All of us who have been involved in this case throughout the years have developed a deep admiration for Anabel and William Herrera have never given up on seeing the arrest of the person who killed their precious son,16-year-old Bryan Herrera, on December 22, 2012.
"It has taken 12 long years to charge Bryan's murderer and now his parents will start a new journey as the State Attorney's Office begins this phase of the criminal justice process."
Today stands as a beacon of perseverance, faith, and hope for all those awaiting the day that their child's killer is known and finally bring some sense of justice to them and their families.
