Ex-boyfriend found guilty of murdering Bradenton woman after extradition from Colombia
A Bradenton man who fled to Colombia after killing his ex-girlfriend is facing decades in prison after a Manatee County jury found him guilty of murder.
Andres Collazos, 34, was convicted Friday for killing Jazmin Catano, a mother of two and former Manatee Clerk of Court employee who was found dead in her Bradenton apartment on June 23, 2013. They dated for two years and were engaged before Catano broke up with him and got her own apartment, according to detectives.
Within 24 hours of moving into her apartment, she was dead, according to court documents.
Before her body was found, Collazos boarded a flight to his native Medellin, Colombia from the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, investigators say. He immediately became a person of interest, according to detectives.
The FBI and Department of Justice tracked and found Collazos, who was on the run until he was arrested in July 2017 by Colombian National Police. He remained there in jail until he was extradited back to the Manatee County jail by U.S. Marshals from Bogota in March 2019.
Collazos faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years for the second-degree murder conviction. Court documents show that as part of the extradition agreement with Colombia, prosecutors had to agree not to pursue the death penalty or a life sentence.
Bradenton man convicted in ex-girlfriend’s murder
Catano was discovered at her new Coral Club apartment in the 5900 block of 30th Street West across from State College of Florida when her ex-husband arrived to drop off their son and daughter. When she didn’t answer the door, he went inside to check on her, discovered the crime scene and called 911, according to court records.
Detectives found a bloody scene in the apartment, an arrest report said. Collazos is accused of striking Catano multiple times in the back of the head and shooting her in the back before dragging her to the bathroom.
A bloody fingerprint, which was later identified as a match for Collazos via the FBI database form when he applied for a concealed weapons permit, was key evidence in the state’s case, investigators say.
Prosecutors argued that Collazos had shown an obsession with Catano before killing her. An apartment manager told deputies that Collazos applied to live in the same building as Catano and a friend reported seeing Collazos watching Catano from the parking lot.
“We are pleased with the jury’s verdict holding the defendant responsible for his heartless actions. The defendant’s futile attempt to evade prosecution served as further proof of his guilt,” said Assistant State Attorney Charlie Lawrence, the lead prosecutor on the case. “Jazmin Catano and her family have finally obtained justice and long-awaited closure for her senseless murder.”
A sentencing hearing is set for Aug. 9.
