Man charged in murder, dismemberment of Florida Uber Eats driver
A Florida man is facing murder and robbery charges after police found the dismembered remains of a food delivery driver in the trash outside his home, authorities announced Tuesday.
Police said the victim, who worked as a delivery driver for Uber Eats and DoorDash, was going about his deliveries on April 19 when he texted his wife to say he would be home soon because he had one more delivery to go. After not hearing from him for a while, the wife texted again, but received no response. After a few more hours passed with more texts that went unanswered, the wife then reported him missing.
Two days later, police went to the location of the last known delivery address, where the suspect's roommate gave the police video showing the victim.
Just before 7 p.m. on April 19, "You can actually see the victim walking up to the house to deliver food, but the video cuts off at that point," Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a press conference Tuesday. The next day, the footage showed, the suspect and one other person took out several bags of trash, Nocco said. When detectives searched the trash bags, they found human remains, Nocco said.
Oscar Solis, who had been paroled in Indiana and moved to Florida in January, was then arrested for failure to register as a felon with the county and violation of parole. Solis, 30, was then arrested Monday night for "felony murder in conjunction with the robbery," after detectives found the victim's wedding ring and car keys inside Solis' house.
The victim's car was found about one-third of a mile from the home, police said. According to a police affidavit obtained by the CBS News, inside the car's trunk, detectives found a trash bag with "apparent blood-soaked rags," along with a red Door Dash bag and paper towels. In the trash bag they also found a time card punch out receipt with Solis' name on it for a gentleman's club where Solis had told investigators he worked security, the affidavit stated.
The roommate was not home at the time of the murder, police said. It was not immediately clear who the other person was that helped take the trash out. Police said the home is leased to the roommate and the suspect's father, and the father moved out when Solis moved from Indiana so that Solis could live there. Both the father and the roommate have been cooperating with the investigation, police said.
Nocco said Solis was affiliated with the MS-13 gang and had previously served four years for burglary and assault. He was also accused of stabbing someone while in prison, Nocco said.
Nocco said there didn't appear to be any relationship between Solis and the victim.
"This was a horrific crime of passion," he said. "This was demonic. What he did was demonic."
Police also released photos of a woman and a man who they said were seen leaving the home shorty before the victim arrived. Police said the two were "not considered missing, but may have information to provide in this case."
