The family of slain Florida college student Miya Marcano is suing the apartment complex where she lived and worked for employing her suspected killer — who was able to enter her home using a master key fob.
The lawsuit filed Monday by Marcano’s relatives accuses the Orlando apartment complex, Arden Villas, and its operator, The Preiss Company, of negligence in the 19-year-old Valencia College student’s death for employing maintenance worker Armando Caballero, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
“As a result of the attack by Caballero and the negligence of the defendants, Marcano sustained severe mental anguish and bodily injury resulting in her death,” according to the lawsuit filed in Orange County circuit court.
The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $30,000 and a jury trial, the Sentinel reported.
Monday’s lawsuit, which also named Caballero’s estate as a defendant, accused Arden Villas of not taking precautions against “foreseeable attacks, especially by employees,” according to Spectrum News 13.
The filing alleges the complex allowed workers and vendors to readily obtain master maintenance key fobs and didn’t warn residents that employees would have “unfettered access” to their apartments, the station reported.
Marcano had previously exchanged numbers with her co-workers, including Caballero, but Arden Villas staffers never notified her of his “criminal background,” his history of harassing women or that he’d have access to her unit, according to the lawsuit.
“Caballero, who was much older than Marcano, appeared to be interested in Marcano and this made her extremely uncomfortable,” the lawsuit reads, adding that she shared her concerns with her manager. “Management at Arden Villas had a reputation for ignoring the complaints made by both tenants and employees.”
The body of Marcano, who was reported missing on Sept. 24, was discovered on Oct. 2 at a condominium complex in Orlando. Caballero — her suspected killer, who allegedly made repeated sexual advances that the teen rebuffed — was found dead on Sept. 27 in his Orlando apartment in an apparent suicide.
Authorities have said Caballero used a master key fob to access Marcano’s apartment just 30 minutes before she was last seen wrapping up her shift at Arden Villas’ onsite leasing office. Her family later reported her missing after she failed to board a flight from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale.
Caballero’s cellphone data led cops to Marcano’s body, which had been bound with duct tape around her wrists, feet and mouth, WTSP reported earlier this month.
A message seeking comment from Arden Villas by The Post was not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.
Hundreds of people packed a Florida church on Thursday for Marcano’s funeral. Relatives asked that the “vibrant butterfly” not be forgotten and that she get the same media attention as Long Island native Gabby Petito, 22, whose disappearance and death have gripped the country for nearly two months.
