Man charged with killing two women could have become ‘serial killer’

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Authorities in Florida believe a man charged with murdering two women may have had the potential of becoming a “prolific serial killer.”

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Carlos Yadiel Baez-Nieves, 25, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 41-year-old Fatia Flowers on March 4 and 44-year-old Nichole Daniels on April 17.

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“I’m confident that through their vigilance in these cases, our detectives have prevented Baez-Nieves from becoming a prolific serial killer,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in a statement Monday.

“He clearly targeted women he thought wouldn’t be missed. He murdered them and dumped them on the side of the road like trash. But our detectives knew that Fatia and Nichole’s lives were meaningful — and that they are worthy of justice.”

According to Spectrum News in Orlando, witnesses told police that a suspicious white pickup truck was seen in the area when Daniels went missing.

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Mina said surveillance footage showed Daniels entering a “very distinctive white Ford F-150 pickup truck the night before she was found dead.”

The arrest affidavit states that investigators were able to identify the vehicle’s licence plate number and tracked it to an Orlando home, approximately 2.5 kilometres from the intersection where the victim’s bodies were located.

Detectives also realized that Baez-Nieves had listed his vehicle for sale, “no doubt to get rid of it and any evidence in the truck,” Mina said.

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The affidavit said after he sold the truck to a couple, police officers stopped the vehicle to confirm it was bought from Baez-Nieves. The vehicle was then seized.

Later that day, cops pulled over Baez-Nieves and charged him with driving on a suspended drivers licence. While in custody, he “ultimately confessed to the killing of both women,” Mina said.

Following questioning, Baez-Nieves allegedly admitted he picked up the women at different gas stations for sex before dumping their dead bodies at the same intersection.

The court filing said Daniels was strangled to death over an argument about money and Flowers was killed during “rough sexual intercourse.”

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