On Monday morning Sheriff John Mina held a press conference updating the community regarding the arrest of potential serial killer Carlos Yadiel Baez Nieves.
Mina said the 25-year-old man, who came here from Puerto Rico in 2020, targeted the most vulnerable women he could target: women who were transient and sex workers.
On two separate occasions, about a month apart, Nieves picked up 41-year-old Fatia Flowers and 44-year-old Nichole Daniels. Nieves had sex with the women, strangled them to death, then drove to an intersection and pushed their bodies out of his truck.
On March 14th, Flowers’ body was found at the intersection of Trevarthon Road and Harrell Road in East Orlando. About a month later, on April 17th, the body of Nichole Daniels was found in the same location.
Video surveillance showed Daniels getting into Nieves pick-up truck near North Econ Trail the night before she was found dead.
According to Mina, Nieves was trying to sell his truck likely to get rid of any evidence. Before he could sell it, Nieves was arrested for driving with a suspended driver’s license. “He ultimately confessed to our detectives to killing both women. He’s currently in the Orange County jail on two counts of first-degree murder,” Mina said.
According to Mina, Nieves targeted women who he thought would not be missed. Mina said, “He murdered them and dumped their bodies on the side of the road like they were trash.”
According to the Sheriff, the women worked and lived in the same area where they were found dead.
“Anytime we have an incident like this when there’s two deaths within a month apart, we are certainly looking to see if he may have committed any murders either here or where he’s from in Puerto Rico,” Mina added.
“He killed two women in a months time. So, to me that is the definition of a serial killer,” Mina said.
