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Doublemint solves Double murder
Busted by some Doublemint gum. ‘note to self, don’t leave wads of chewing gum at murder scene’
A fingerprint and DNA on two wads of chewing gum helped capture a man suspected of murdering two gay men shot dead in 1998, six days and six blocks apart, Miami police said Wednesday.
Guillermo Valencia, 32, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Transferred from federal prison in California, Valencia was booked into Miami-Dade County Jail last Saturday.
The dead men: Leonides Ramos, 51, a travel agency courier, killed Oct. 2, 1998; and Osvaldo Del Pino, 39, a women’s lingerie wholesaler, slain Oct. 8.
Detectives believe Ramos may have met both men through separate encounters at Allapattah-Comstock Park, 2800 NW 17th Ave.
Investigators are still not sure of a motive.
Police say Ramos and Del Pino frequently invited men to their respective homes.
On the afternoon of Oct. 2, a roommate arrived at Ramos’ duplex, 2160 NW 24th St., and saw a man jumping the fence into a next-door yard. Then he found Ramos, shot in the chest, on the bedroom floor.
A fingerprint was lifted from a metal post that supported the duplex’s aluminum roof, according to an arrest warrant. One witness had seen Valencia touch the post as he ran off, police said.
Six days later at 1905 NW 28th St., a neighbor heard a dog barking about 2:38 a.m. He saw Del Pino’s air-conditioning unit was gone — looking inside the window, he saw his body in the lighted bedroom.
Source: MH
