Man sentenced to life in prison for 2022 murder of a Florida LGBTQ advocate and brother of a former Miami mayor
(CNN) — A Florida man was sentenced to life in prison Friday after a jury found him guilty in the 2022 murder of his roommate, an LGBTQ advocate and brother of a former Miami mayor.
The Leon County jury found Steven R. Yinger guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, grand theft motor vehicle, grand theft and criminal use of a personal identification number, court records show.
The judge assigned to the case sentenced him immediately to life in prison, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
CNN has reached out to Yinger's attorney for comment on the verdict and sentencing.
The body of Jorge Diaz-Johnston was discovered in January 2022 in a Jackson County landfill several days after he was last seen. Police believe Diaz-Johnston was strangled with a ligature and his body was wrapped in bed linens and dumped in the trash at his home, the probable cause section in search warrants in the case indicate.
A grand jury indicted Yinger in April 2022, alleging he strangled Diaz-Johnston between January 3 and 5 of that year.
Diaz-Johnston's husband, Don Diaz-Johnston, reported him missing, according to search warrants. Don Diaz-Johnston told police Yinger was his husband's roommate and his husband had been planning to ask Yinger to move out because they hadn't been getting along.
"I am so angry. After all those years of trying to get my husband back, to have him ripped from me for such an utterly senseless reason," Don Diaz-Johnston told CNN affiliate WPLG in an interview last year after the incident.
He said his late husband knew Yinger from an alcohol recovery program and took him in while he and Jorge were separated.
"Jorge didn't charge him rent, never had expectations, until he could get a job and support himself, and that's who Jorge was," Don Diaz-Johnston told WPLG in 2022.
In a statement after the verdict and sentencing, Don Diaz-Johnston extended his "heartfelt gratitude" to the Tallahassee Police Department detectives who worked on his husband's case.
"Their efforts truly exemplify world-class investigative work, and the Tallahassee community should take immense pride in their accomplishments," his statement continued.
Jorge and Don Dia- Johnston were one of six couples who filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County in 2014 challenging Florida's ban on same-sex marriage. A Miami-Dade circuit judge ruled in the couples' favor in 2015.
In January, the victim's brother, Manny Diaz – who served as mayor of Miami from 2001 to 2009 – released a statement saying his brother "was such a special gift to this world whose heart and legacy will continue to live on for generations to come."
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