MIAMI (TCN) — Federal officials arrested a 55-year-old man eight years after a woman and their daughter went missing in a suspected kidnapping.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced Oct. 28 that Gustavo Alfonso Castano Restrepo was taken into custody on a charge of kidnapping resulting in death in connection with the disappearance of 41-year-old Liliana Moreno and 8-year-old Danielle Moreno. The U.S. attorney’s office alleges Restrespo “did willfully and unlawfully seize, confine, inveigle, decoy, kidnap, abduct, and carry away and hold a person, that is, Liliana Moreno, for reward and otherwise, and did use a means, facility, and instrumentality of interstate commerce, that is, a cellular telephone, the internet, a motor vehicle, and the Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike, in the commission and in furtherance of the offense.”
Officials believe the kidnapping led to Liliana Moreno and Daniella Moreno’s deaths.
The mother and daughter were last seen May 30, 2016, at or near a Home Depot in Hialeah. The FBI put out a $25,000 reward for information leading to their whereabouts.
According to WSVN-TV, police identified Restrepo as a person of interest early on in the investigation. Some of Liliana Moreno’s family members reportedly told investigators that she and Restrepo had an argument and he kicked her and Daniella Moreno out of his car on the Homestead Extension. Police reportedly found Restrepo stabbing himself in a parking lot. He got into an altercation with officers who Tased him, which reportedly caused Restrepo to lose an eye.
Liliana Moreno and her daughter have still not been found.
If convicted, Restrepo could be sentenced to life in prison or face the death penalty.
