Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Florida Man Dismembered Girlfriend Then Ditched Body in Suitcase: Sheriff

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A Florida man is behind bars accused of murdering his girlfriend, putting her body in a suitcase, and then he's shot as he's captured. I walk through the timeline of this gruesome murder. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

Starting point is 00:00:24 This story is so incredibly sad. What started as a wellness check on 41-year-old Jorge Quintero in Orange County, Florida, quickly turned into a murder investigation spanning three states, and it happened very, very quickly. Quintero and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Carmen Elsa Escalante Carrera, seemed like a happy couple. She went by the name Carmen Escalante, and they were about to start a new chapter in their lives, but things took an incredibly tragic and horrific turn. Quintero now faces a first-degree murder charge and a fraud charge, and I'll have more on that in a bit. This case has so many twists and

Starting point is 00:01:01 turns, so let's break it down. On October 29th, around 6 a.m., detectives said Quintero started sending suicidal text messages to some of his friends and family. One of his friends became concerned and went to his house. When the friend arrived at the house, he didn't find Quintero. Instead, he found knives on the edge of a bathtub and blood everywhere. In an affidavit, a detective wrote, There was a large amount of blood inside of the bathtub, bloody clothes, and a large kitchen knife in the bathroom. There was also information for a nearby apartment complex, the Madison at Waterford Lakes, and multiple handwritten notes which were consistent with suicide notes. Deputies also found security camera footage showing what appears to be a male figure walking out the back door, getting into a white truck, and driving off around 7.30 that morning. After chatting with some of Jorge Quintero's friends

Starting point is 00:01:56 and family, investigators confirmed that Quintero planned to move into an apartment with his new girlfriend, Carmen Escalante. Authorities went to that apartment complex, which is an upscale complex in Orange County, Florida, to look for Quintero to see if he needed help. Instead, they found an incredibly bloody scene. Detectives described bloody spots all over the wall, bloody towels, and this time, personal items of Carmen Escalante's like her wallet and keys. A missing persons detective responds to this complex to look for possible clues on the whereabouts of Jorge Quintero. According to the affidavit, he observed the large amount of blood in the bathtub, the kitchen knife, a shirt soaked in blood, shorts soaked in blood, the notes, and Jorge's cell phone on the bathtub. He observed

Starting point is 00:02:43 that Jorge's phone was still on, and he received several text messages and phone calls. The forensic unit determined that some of the blood located in the home contained blood from a male, while the blood in the apartment belonged to a female. At this point in the investigation, no one was able to make contact with either Jorge Quintero or Carmen Escalante. Detectives later find the last time that Carmen Escalante is seen alive with Jorge Quintero is Sunday, October 27th at a Wawa, and they are being affectionate with one another. And then the next morning, they were getting into his white rental truck.

Starting point is 00:03:19 Phone records reveal the last known location for Carmen Escalante's phone was in Seminole County, Georgia on October 29th, around 1.30 p.m. Carmen's bank statements lead police to a Chevron gas station to investigate why she made two separate purchases around 10.48 p.m. And it becomes clear what happened. The affidavit says about the surveillance footage, it clearly shows Jorge making the mobile purchases with Carmen's cell phone. Carmen Carrera is not observed in the store. During the transaction at the cash register, Jorge is observed holding a blue cloth tight around his neck as if he were nursing an injury to his neck.

Starting point is 00:03:59 This concerns detectives a great deal, along with the fact that a camera from outside the gas station shows a rental truck with a trash bag and what, along with the fact that a camera from outside the gas station shows a rental truck with a trash bag and what appears to be the shape of a human being in it. And even more concerning, Carmen isn't seen anywhere in that footage. Two days later, U.S. Marshals find Jorge Quintero in his rental truck across state lines in Saraland, Alabama. And during this encounter, Marshals shoot Jorge Quintero. He was transported to the hospital and survived. Detectives say the rental car contained long strands of hair appearing to belong to a female as well as suspected blood. But remember that

Starting point is 00:04:36 human-shaped bag in the back of Jorge's truck? Well, it wasn't in his truck anymore. Police began searching the seven-mile stretch of Highway 84. Three hours later, police find a suitcase and a plastic bag containing human remains in Seminole County, Georgia. The suitcase had a tag with Carmen's name on it, along with rosary beads, two men's wristwatches, and a rental vehicle key fob. According to the autopsy, Carmen Escalante was strangled to death. Carrera was nude and she had a power cord ligature wrapped around her neck. Carrera's right arm was separated from her torso.

Starting point is 00:05:16 It had been severed and placed in a separate heavy-duty plastic garbage bag. Carrera's left arm and left leg appeared as if someone tried to cut them off but quit during the process. Carrera had apparent blunt force trauma to the right side of her face. Seven days into the investigation, Jorge Quintero is arrested for first-degree murder. Investigators believe Jorge strangled Carmen to death with a power cord at the apartment before dismembering her and then putting her in a suitcase on the side of the road. Just awful. I want to bring in Dave Ehrenberg. He is the state attorney for Palm Beach County. He is not involved in prosecuting this case. So Dave, it seems like Jorge Quintero, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, really left a trail of breadcrumbs

Starting point is 00:05:57 in the form of license plate reader information that took them, and cell phone technology, really, cell phone pings that took them to not only his location, but also sadly, the location of Carmen Escalante's body. Yeah, and Jeanette and the body was just brutalized. I mean, and she died by asphyxiation. And that's the kind of death you see in a crime of passion. So everything points to this guy as the guy who did it, not to mention when they went inside the apartment, they found a large kitchen knife. They found a bloody bathtub. They found bloody clothes. They found notes written that were consistent with suicide notes from the defendant. And so there's so much evidence here.

Starting point is 00:06:43 I would think the only way this guy could save himself would be a plea deal because he's eligible for the death penalty. It'll be interesting to see if they do indeed pursue the death penalty. I mean, the allegations in this case are horrific, a bloody, bloody scene, not only at his home, but also in the apartment that they were going to move into together. And what's really striking to me about this and so incredibly sad, Dave, is the fact that they were seen at a Wawa on surveillance footage, you know, on October 27th in the evening. The next morning, October 28th, they're seen getting into the rental truck together,

Starting point is 00:07:22 leaving the house. Nothing seems amiss. And then on the 29th, this horrific scene unfolds. So something happened in between those hours. We don't know. We don't know if maybe she was calling off this relationship, calling off the move. We know her belongings were in the apartment. But it just seems to me like, as you said, I mean, this is a domestic type thing too. Strangulation often is a domestic violence type of homicide. Yes. And the most dangerous part of a relationship is when one person is trying to leave. Now,

Starting point is 00:08:00 this was a relatively new relationship according to reports, but they had just moved in together and then something obviously must have happened. And yes, you're correct. And in addition to everything I said, you called it. They've got bloody towels. They've got blood spots on the walls. And so there's so much evidence there, blood evidence. I'm sure there's lots of DNA.

Starting point is 00:08:20 There's video surveillance. They show him going to that car, that truck that was rented in his name, where he was caught. 30 minutes before they arrived, they saw him leave in that truck. When they found him in a shootout, by the way, you want to talk about consciousness of guilt, they pull you over and then you start shooting at the police, that's really bad too. And that'll come in evidence. They did not find the body with the defendant at the time they pulled him over, but they found it in that suitcase on the side of the road. And I mean, it's so horrific to think that that's how someone's life ends up. So any jury that gets this case is going to hate this guy. And I suspect he may

Starting point is 00:09:06 want to take a plea deal to accept life in prison rather than the death penalty. Well, and he's also charged with fraud, Dave. I mean, he is seen, they said, at a gas station using her cell phone to pay for things after, you know, her body is dismembered and disposed of. This is all according to the affidavit. So he's facing a fraud charge as well. So that's another piece of evidence against him. He's got her cell phone after her body disappears. And after phones are pinging, going up the interstate, I mean, they basically tracked

Starting point is 00:09:42 him down. So the fraud charge kind of helps them in their homicide case as well with using her phone to pay for things and her credit card. Talk to me about how much license plate reader technology and cell phone technology. You've been a prosecutor for a long time. You've seen how these things have revolutionized how you can solve a murder case and how you can figure things out. I mean, it's really changed the game. You have people, Ingenette, who don't watch this channel, don't watch True Crime, and they have no idea about the advances

Starting point is 00:10:16 that we've made in law enforcement and tracking individuals down who are suspects. I mean, this has happened so quickly that these individuals think they can get away with it just by hightailing it out. Meanwhile, they don't know they have a tracker on their body pretty much at all times, meaning a cell phone. There are license plate readers out there. There are cameras everywhere, ring doorbell cameras. There's, of course, DNA technology. People are aware of that, but they don't know that it is so much harder to get away with it these days. Ask Brian Koberger. He was a student of this stuff. He was fascinated by this stuff, but still thought we're living in the 70s with Ted Bundy. And he didn't

Starting point is 00:10:55 realize that cell phone technology existed apparently. But this is the kind of stuff that we use every day in law enforcement. We don't talk about it much because you don't want the criminals out there to try to get one step ahead. And meanwhile, they continue to talk on their cell phones. They continue to make ATM withdrawals, which are all recorded and there's cameras there too. And yes, there are license plate readers on the road. So nowadays we're in a much better position to catch these individuals. Yeah. The license plate reader technology is just fascinating to me because it can just ping, ping, ping, and you can pick that up very quickly. The police can along with the cell phone pings. I mean, it's a really horrific crime. And it's very sad to me. I mean, we don't know a lot about Carmen Escalante. I mean,

Starting point is 00:11:39 she doesn't really appear to have a social media presence anywhere. The little bit we do know about her on the Gun Violence Memorial website, it says she was a teacher, but we're really not finding many records about her. It's very sad that we're not learning more about her. I mean, it seems like people who knew her, if they did know her at all in the area, are being really tight-lipped about this and about who she was. Yes. But at the trial, prosecutors will make sure they talk about her to give her what's called the spark of life. So she's not just some anonymous victim. That's what the defense likes it. There's only one person in that courtroom and it's the defendant. The victim is dead. And so

Starting point is 00:12:21 that person is not there. And sometimes you can get caught up in the anonymity in it. But this woman obviously had a family, friends who cared deeply about her. And we're going to find that out just because she wasn't on social media didn't mean that she didn't make a difference in this world. Her life clearly mattered. And we're going to learn about that soon enough. Yeah, most certainly. I hope so. I mean, we don't even have a photograph of her to honor her, which is incredibly sad, too. You know, Jorge Quintero, he has the constitutional rights that we all enjoy. He's innocent until proven guilty. But it does appear that the sheriff's office has a lot of evidence, a lot of damning evidence against him showing that he's the person who committed this crime.

Starting point is 00:13:08 I mean, it's surveillance video, it's blood evidence, it's suicide notes that he sent to people and that were left around the house. I mean, all of this stuff, plus the incident with the police in Saraland, Alabama, where they end up, the U.S. Marshals end up shooting him because they're tracking him down. I mean, it's just it's a terrible, terrible case. I mean, as a prosecutor, do you, you said you saw this as a crime of passion. Do you pursue the death penalty with a case that's a crime of passion? Yes. Yes. It depends on whether the aggravators are met. And here it was the killing heinous, atrocious, and cruel, I would say so, the way the body was discovered. He dismembered the body. There were cords around her neck, which is a very

Starting point is 00:13:52 painful way to go. There was a power cord around her neck when her body was found. No clothes, body parts dismembered. So this, to me, would seem to be hate and it's atrocious and cruel, which is one of several potential aggravators. All you need is one to be eligible for the death penalty. So yes, this is a kind of crime that you wouldn't, the fact that there was another crime committed, con committed with it, meaning the fraud, there's perhaps a financial motive. These are all potential aggravators. So yes, I do think that this is a case that will be seriously considered for the death penalty. Well, we will have to wait and see. And I hope we learn more about Carmen Escalante as the days go on. But he is charged with first degree murder right now in the Orange County Jail in Florida.

Starting point is 00:14:39 And it's a horrific, horrific case. Dave Ehrenberg, thank you so much for joining me as always. Thanks for having me, Anjanette. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Florida Man Dismembered Girlfriend Then Ditched Body in Suitcase: Sheriff

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.

Your Ad Here

Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Florida Man Dismembered Girlfriend Then Ditched Body in Suitcase: Sheriff

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.