SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Federal investigators believe four years of dealing drugs and an armed robbery spree ended in a double homicide in April.
News 6 has extensively covered both the carjacking and killing of a South Florida woman in Winter Springs, and the shooting of a tow truck driver in Taft.
[RELATED: Everyone in the brazen Winter Springs carjacking, murder case, from victim to suspects]
On Thursday, US State Attorney Roger B. Handberg spoke publicly about the murders and an investigation that has now expanded to include the arrest of eight people, some of whom were not directly linked to the murders but a larger network of criminal activity.
“I stated that we would not be limiting our investigation to the carjacking and murder,” Handberg said. “Our investigation has been and will continue to be thorough, methodical, comprehensive, meticulous and unrelenting. When we find a violation of federal law that we can prove in federal court, we will charge it regardless of whether it ties directly to the carjacking and murder.”
Previously, Jordanish Torres Garcia, Giovany Crespo Hernandez, Dereck Alexis Rodriguez Bonilla, and Kevin Ocasio Justiniano had been connected to the carjacking case in some way. Crespo Hernandez’s girlfriend, Monicsabel Romero Soto, was charged with drug crimes.
Federal agencies first started looking into several of the suspects in 2020.
“These defendants then proceeded to reveal their drug distribution network, primarily cocaine, throughout the state of Florida and Puerto Rico,” said Deanne Reuter, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration Miami Field Division
This week, Ocasio Justiniano plead guilty in federal court and News 6 learned three other people had been indicted by a grand jury.
“The federal violations that have been charged in that indictment include conspiracy, robbery, firearms violations, drug trafficking, carjacking, kidnapping and arson. The indictment tells a story, a story of drug trafficking, money laundering and the violence that those activities bring about,” Handberg said. “The murder of Ms. Aguasvivas was not a random act. It is a story that began in 2020 and that played out four years later with her brutal murder.”
The latest indictment lists 16 charges, including drug conspiracy, carjacking causing death, kidnapping causing death, arson and Hobbs Act robbery.
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“Eight defendants are alleged to have committed nine different crimes that are charged in 20 different counts and three different federal indictments,” said Handberg. “The indictments include two drug trafficking conspiracies, a money laundering conspiracy, a robbery conspiracy, four robberies or attempted robberies, a firearms possession offense involving a murder, another murder, a carjacking, a kidnaping and arson.”
Handberg said Katherine Aguasvivas drove from Homestead to Seminole County on April 11 to pick up $170,000 in drug proceeds to be laundered as part of an ongoing drug money laundering operation. Investigators say she was in communication with Giovany Crespo Hernandez and on the way to meet him.
Court documents state while Crespo Herandez met with Aguasvivas, Jordanish Torres Garcia and Kevin Ocasio Justiniano were waiting for her in the neighborhood.
Authorities say Crespo Hernandez and Torres Garcia exchanged a series of phone calls shortly before witnesses spotted the green Acura, that the suspects were in, bumping into her white Dodge Durango in Winter Springs. The video captured in broad daylight shows the gunman, who investigators believe to be Torres Garcia, exit the Acura in a ski mask and walk up to Aguasvivas with an AR-15 rifle.
Investigators said Aguasvivas was then ordered at gunpoint to drive to Osceola County, where the victim’s burned-out vehicle was later found at a construction site on Boggy Creek Road.
“She was shot several times, and her body and car were lit on fire. Her body was so badly burned that she could only later be identified by DNA evidence left in the burned-out vehicle,” said Handberg.
The suspects' Acura was later recovered at an apartment complex. Detectives determined the same car and firearm used in the kidnapping and killing were also connected to the murder of a tow truck driver in Orange County the day before the carjacking.
According to court documents, Dereck Rodriguez Bonilla delivered the firearm, the same used to kill the tow truck driver the night before, to Ocasio Justiniano in the Boggy Creek area of Kissimmee.
Thursday, Handberg went into detail about the slew of crimes the seven individuals in the latest indictment were allegedly involved in. Over the course of two months last year, authorities believe these seven conspirators were involved in four robberies or attempted robberies :
· Jordanish Torres-Garcia
· Giovany Crespo Hernandez
· Sonic Torres
· Kevin Ocasio Justiniano
· Derreck Alexis Rodriguez Bonilla
· Anneliz Colon De Jesus
· Cesar Augusto Silva Fernandez
It began on February 9 when prosecutors say Torres-Garcia partnered with Colon De Jesus, Silva Fernandez, and others to commit an armed robbery of a victim. Less than a week later, on February 15, Handberg said Torres-Garcia partnered with his brother, Sonic Torres, and Ocasio Justiniano to commit a home invasion robbery in Poinciana. The trio allegedly forced their way inside and stole valuables.
“They arrived late at night. They forced the door open with a crowbar, and they broke into the home with a mask and armed with firearms,” said Handberg. “They combined the six victims into a room and began searching their home for valuables. They stole watches. They stole jewelry, which Torres Garcia and Ocasio Justiniano were recorded on video selling at a pawnshop.”
[TIMELINE: Here’s what to know about the brazen Winter Springs carjacking case so far]
Then there was the owner of a tow truck company who was killed in his driveway on April 10. Handberg said Torres Garica drove the green Acura there, and he and Dereck Rodriguez Bonilla got out of the car and started firing at the victim. More than 100 rounds were fired, according to investigators.
“This was an attempted robbery. After the shooting, one of the assailants was observed retrieving something from the victim’s truck before fleeing in the green Acura,” said Handberg.
All of that leads to April 11, when Katherine Aguasvivas was kidnapped and killed.
Investigators have also tied Ocasio Justiniano and Torres Garcia to the robbery of a known drug dealer in Orlando in 2022. Court documents show pictures of Ocasio Justiniano buying law enforcement tactical gear in Orlando for the “purpose of conducting home invasion robberies.”
“The drug dealer thought that he was selling them a kilogram of cocaine. Ocasio Justiniano and Torres Garcia, well they had other plans,” said Handberg. “They armed themselves with firearms and showed up at the location where the deal was going to take place. After the drug dealer put the kilogram of cocaine into their car, they drove away without paying. They then sold the cocaine and distributed the proceeds amongst themselves and their other conspirator.”
As for Katherine Aguasvivas’s husband, Miguel Angel Aguasvivas Lizardo, News 6 previously reported that he was indicted in October by a federal grand jury in Orlando. Handberg said its alleged that he was involved in the money-laundering conspiracy that started in March, and that he and his conspirators traveled to and from Orlando for the purpose of obtaining bulk cash.
“Miguel Aguasvivas arranged for money drops to provide the bulk currency to others who would convert the cash into cryptocurrency that was delivered to drug traffickers,” Handberg said Thursday.
Handberg said he was paid a monetary commission for laundering funds.
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