A Florida man who was badly injured in a gunfight with federal marshals has been charged with murder, dismemberment, and stuffing his girlfriend’s remains in a suitcase.
According to court filings detailing the investigation, the crime began last month when Jorge Quintero, 41, began sending suicide text messages from his home in Orange County, Florida, to his family and friends.
Friends, concerned about Quintero’s well-being, went to his house and discovered a blood-splattered bathtub with a knife teetering on the edge. Quintero was not at home, and one of his friends immediately alerted the police, according to News 6 Orlando.
When Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they reportedly discovered blood-stained clothes, notes that they suspected were suicide notes, and information regarding an apartment complex.
Security footage analyzed by law officers showed a “male figure” exiting the home’s rear door and driving away in a white pickup, according to officials.
Deputies eventually discovered that Quintero had leased an apartment to live with his girlfriend, 29-year-old Carmen Carrera. Deputies inspecting the apartment discovered bloodied towels and blood streaks on the walls, as well as Carrera’s clothes, wallet, and keys, according to court filings.
According to law enforcement accounts, investigators traced Carrera’s cell phone to a place in Seminole County, Georgia, near where Quintero had driven a rental truck days before.
Deputies who found the truck uncovered a waste bag in its bed that appeared to be shaped like a human body. According to police, tests from the flat have connected spattered blood to both a guy and a female.
Investigators apparently discovered on security tape that after Carrera’s disappearance, Quintero charged gas purchases to her bank account and was wearing a blue fabric around his neck, possibly as a bandage.
Deputies and federal agents eventually tracked Quintero’s white pickup to Saraland, Alabama, where they encountered him on Halloween, resulting in a gunfight. Quintero was seriously injured and transferred to a nearby hospital; he survived.
Meanwhile, investigators in Georgia discovered an abandoned suitcase containing Carrera’s bones.
Quintero has denied any knowledge of his girlfriend’s whereabouts, according to officials.
An autopsy revealed that Carrera was strangled using a power wire. Investigators accuse Quintero of transporting the bag containing her remains to the Alabama-Georgia state line and depositing it off Highway 84, where it was later retrieved by law officials.
Quintero was brought into Orange County Jail on Monday and charged with first-degree murder. He is being imprisoned without bail.