The Hillsborough County police arrested a Cuban man who stabbed and killed another man, leaving his body lying in a ditch in Tampa, Florida, authorities reported.
Dayhan Ruenes Vinet, 32 years old, was arrested on June 14, ten days after killing Yalexander Jiménez Felipe, 47, whose body was found in a ditch, in an area near East Tampa, as stated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) in a press release.
At 6:34 a.m. on June 4th, agents responded to a 911 call alerting them to a body in a ditch near the intersection of East Chelsea Street and Racheal Falls Drive.
Upon arriving at that address, around 6:45 a.m., they found Jiménez with an injury to the upper body. The man was declared dead at the scene.
The detectives conducted a thorough investigation that led to the arrest of Ruenes on June 14th.
Ruenes faces charges of first-degree murder, armed robbery, trafficking in stolen property, and providing false information on a pawnshop form, as indicated by the HCSO.
Jiménez was a native of Guayos, in the municipality of Cabaiguán, in Sancti Spíritus, and was the father of a teenager and a newborn boy.
On social media, family and friends have described him as an upright man, with a cheerful disposition and a loving father.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has not disclosed further information about Jiménez's murder, but a pretrial detention motion filed by the Prosecutor's Office this Monday relates other details of the crime.
According to the document, which was obtained by the newspaper Tampa Bay Times, Jiménez received "multiple stab wounds in the upper body" and was found dead in a ditch in the northern area of Chelsea Street. His car, a 2014 Buick Verano, was located nearby with the hood open, but his cell phone was not at the scene. The police found blood inside and outside the car, on the driver's side.
In a review of Jiménez's WhatsApp messages, conducted on June 11th, investigators verified that the victim and her attacker had communicated several times days before the crime date, and that Ruenes had asked her to go out and wear her jewelry.
The prosecutors stated that, after the murder, "the victim's phone was taken (turned off at 10:30 p.m.), as well as the keys to their vehicle and their jewelry", including a necklace, a bracelet, and gold rings.
Ruenes' car, a 2013 Nissan Altima, was caught on surveillance cameras leaving Chelsea Street at 10:31 p.m., and returned to the apartment complex where he lives shortly after 11 p.m.
The prosecution's motion states that during a subsequent search of his vehicle, blood was found in the trunk, on a set of jumper cables in the trunk, on the front passenger seat, under the hood, and on the hood latch support.
On the afternoon of June 8, Ruenes pawned three gold rings at Ultra Jewelry store, located at 3326 W. Columbus Drive in Tampa, the prosecutors pointed out.
The investigators discovered that the original pawn ticket had Ruenes' fingerprint, while a relative of Jiménez confirmed that the rings belonged to the deceased.
Ruenes is being held in Falkenburg Road jail without the right to bail.
"I hope that this arrest can help the family of our victim begin their healing process. As your sheriff, I can assure you that our detectives never rest until justice is served. The tenacity with which they work on each case is relentless and ensures that crimes of this magnitude have no place in our community," said Sheriff Chad Chronister.
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