The death of Alejandro Jacomino González, a 41-year-old Cuban truck driver residing in Port St. Lucie, Florida, confirmed by the FBI last Wednesday after his body was found in a coastal area of Georgia, has raised alarms among truck drivers and cargo business owners regarding the lack of security in rest areas along U.S. highways.
Jacomino González disappeared on April 17 while transporting luxury cars—Mercedes-Benz and BMW—from the port of Brunswick, Georgia, to Miami, working for the company Heartbeat Auto Transport. He was last seen at 1:21 a.m. in a rest area on I-95 South in Grant-Valkaria, Brevard County, Florida. At 7:49 a.m., the truck's GPS recorded a sudden turn north toward Jacksonville, deviating from his original route, and the driver stopped responding.
The vehicle was found that same day abandoned in Port Wentworth, Georgia, without the driver and with several high-end cars missing. Three of the vehicles were later recovered in Florida; others remain missing.
The FBI searched for days for the missing Cuban truck driver and on April 24 issued a public alert, classifying the case as a kidnapping of an auto transporter in Brevard County, with possible deprivation of liberty. Last Wednesday, the agency confirmed the discovery of the lifeless body of Jacomino González, without disclosing the exact location or cause of death. The FBI divisions in Tampa and Atlanta are jointly conducting the investigation, which remains open.
The case has generated outrage among the Cuban trucking community in South Florida. Fernando Espinosa from America Auto Transport was interviewed by Telemundo 51 about the insecurity at the stops and pointed directly to those responsible: "It's speculative, but I would say they were following him because of the value he was carrying in cars. They load cars there at the port of Brunswick in Georgia, right there at Mercedes-Benz and BMWs, and I assure you they followed him closely, waiting at the right spot, according to the thief, the murderer, to see the best moment to carry out the deed they committed."
Espinosa also pointed out the federal authorities: "The Department of Transportation has enough funds, enough money, to invest in the safety of truckers, who are the ones moving the country's industry. This is the reality, the sad reality, and they have done nothing."
The complaint has a structural basis: according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there is only one safe parking space for every 11 trucks on the country's highways. Rest areas systematically lack cameras aimed at trucks and security personnel, unlike the adjacent commercial zones. "You'll find cameras there, near their sales spots. In our places, you can look around and see that there isn't a single camera, there isn't a security guard patrolling, there's no protection at all. You go to the restroom, come back, and you don't know if someone is inside your truck," Espinosa reported.
The case also raises questions about Heartbeat Auto Transport: its registered address in Miami corresponds to an empty lot, according to Telemundo 51, and its owner declined to make any statements, citing an ongoing investigation.
This is not the first time a Cuban truck driver has died under similar circumstances. In March 2022, Alexis Sánchez Azcuy disappeared in Texas while on a freight route; his truck was found with traces of blood. The individual responsible for his murder was sentenced on July 16, 2025, to life in prison plus an additional 20 years for murder and desecration of a corpse.
Both cases share the same pattern: Cuban truck driver, long-distance route, abandoned truck with stolen cargo, and missing driver.
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