Jamaican News, January 18, 2018 (Killed in Murder for Hire Plot)
Floriday, USA (USA Today) – A Florida woman was kidnapped and killed last week during a botched murder-for-hire plot that police said stemmed from an apparent love triangle. Ishnar Marie Lopez, 35, is accused of hiring a couple to kill a woman she believed was in a relationship with a man Lopez loved, Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson said at the press conference Friday, January 12.
Police said the wrong person was killed.
Here is what we know about the murder-for-hire plot and the victim.
What Happened?
Killed in Murder for Hire Plot: Lopez hired Alexis Ramos-Rivera, 23, and his girlfriend Glorianmarie Quinones-Montes, 22, to eliminate the romantic competition, Gibson said.
The couple mistook Janice Zengotita-Torres, 42, as their intended target as she left a Ross Dress for Less at a shopping center near Kissimmee, Fla., on Jan. 7.
They followed her home, kidnapped her and forced her into the back of her own car before realizing they kidnapped the wrong person, according to police.
“The suspect showed no regard for the victim, causing her to die from suffocation because the garbage bags were wrapped around her head,”
“However, the suspects continued with their plan of murder and tied the victim with zip ties and then (covered) her head in duct tape and garbage bags,” Gibson said.
Ramos-Rivera is accused of beating the victim unconscious when she struggled. She died of suffocation from garbage bags wrapped around her head, Gibson added.
Officials say the suspects then dumped the victim’s body at Ormond Beach, Sunday night or early Monday morning, before ditching her car in Orange County.
Who is the victim?
Cable workers found the victim’s body Jan. 8, the same day Zengotita-Torres was reported missing, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Authorities confirmed it was Zengotita-Torres’ remains on Wednesday.
“She was the target of a senseless act of violence in which she was robbed of her life,” Gibson said.
An Osceola sheriff’s spokesperson told NBC News that the intended target and Zengotita-Torres both worked at the store.
“I get emotional because it just touches me so deeply that one of our citizens was killed in such a manner over a mistaken identification,” Gibson said.
“And, in the end, it appears to be a lover’s triangle. Wow.”
Zengotita-Torres had a husband and teenage son, Gibson said.
Who are the suspects?
Authorities arrested Lopez on Friday after she was caught using the victim’s ATM card.
Lopez, accused of organizing the murder plot, gave a full confession and identified the other two suspects, according to the sheriff’s office.
“All three confirmed that this was a murder-for-hire and the victim was mistakenly, again mistakenly, targeted and murdered,”Sheriff Russ Gibson.
Ramos-Rivera and Quinones-Montes also gave full confessions after being arrested at a hotel near Orlando, officials say.
“All three confirmed that this was a murder-for-hire and the victim was mistakenly, again mistakenly, targeted and murdered,” Gibson said.
Killed in Murder for Hire Plot: the three suspects were charged with premeditated murder, according to Osceola County Corrections records.
They had allegedly just moved to Central Florida from Puerto Rico in December, according to the Associated Press.
The sheriff says officials got in contact with the intended victim, who declined protective services.
Lead Photo: Janice ZengotitaTorres Killed in Murder for Hire Plot January 7, 2018