Tampa murder suspect stabbed 2 people within an hour, records state

A man arrested in Tampa over the weekend is accused of fatally stabbing a woman while her young daughter was nearby, then using the same knife to kill a man who refused to help get rid of the weapon, records show.

Hillsborough deputies arrested Silvio Ramon Franco Peralta, 35, of Tampa on first-degree murder and other charges Saturday after he led them on a high-speed pursuit in Town ‘N Country, according to an arrest affidavit and a motion for pretrial detention filed by prosecutors.

Franco Peralta is accused of stabbing Lianet Santos Sosa, 31, and Yosdany Rivero Morales, 34, at different homes within about an hour.

The chain of events that led to Franco Peralta’s arrest began shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday when Hillsborough deputies responded to a call about a dead woman at a home on the 4800 block of Alvarado Drive, according to the motion. The home is in the Golfwood Estates neighborhood in unincorporated Tampa, just west of Tampa International Airport.

Deputies found Sosa dead inside the home.

Witnesses told deputies that Franco Peralta arrived at the home as a passenger in a black SUV whose driver dropped him off. Sosa’s 5-year-old daughter told deputies she was in a bedroom with her mother when Franco Peralta walked in and dragged her mother by her hair to the bathroom. The girl said Franco Peralta lifted her mother by the hair and slammed her head into the shower.

The girl “observed an abundance of blood around the victim,” court documents state.

Another witness who was outside the home said Franco Peralta arrived, went into the house and was inside for 10 to 15 minutes before he came out, got into Sosa’s Toyota RAV4 and drove away. Shortly after, Sosa’s daughter came outside and said, “I don’t love Silvio, he killed my mom,” documents state.

The witness ran into the house and found Sosa dead in the shower.

Two other witnesses who were also outside offered the same account.

A preliminary examination by the Hillsborough medical examiner found about 13 stab wounds on Sosa’s body, including some on her arm and hand that indicated she tried to defend herself, according to court documents.

Shortly before 3 p.m., Tampa police received a 911 call about a man who had been fatally stabbed at a home in the 8700 block of North Packwood Avenue, in the Lowry Park Central neighborhood. Officers arrived and found Morales dead in the driveway.

Surveillance footage captured by a house next door showed a man approaching the house where Morales would later be found dead. Tampa police detectives started a homicide investigation, not yet aware of Franco Peralta’s involvement in that case and the one that Hillsborough sheriff’s detectives were investigating.

At about 3:40 p.m., deputies spotted Sosa’s Toyota near the intersection of Fountain Avenue and Armand Drive in Town ‘N Country and tried to make a traffic stop, but the driver sped off, driving through front yards and running red lights at high speeds, the documents state.

When a deputy intentionally crashed into the Toyota to stop it, Franco Peralta got out and ran. Deputies arrested him after a brief chase.

Jail records show Franco Peralta was arrested near the intersection of Declaration Drive and Montague Street in Town ‘N Country, about 5 miles west of where deputies first spotted the Toyota.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office released body camera footage showing the arrest.

A Hillsborough sheriff’s detective interviewed Franco Peralta at Tampa General Hospital, where he indicated that he followed Sosa to the kitchen, armed himself with a knife, then followed her to the bedroom and bathroom where he stabbed her, the documents state. He also confessed to fatally stabbing Morales, according to the documents.

The documents do not include details about the relationship between Franco Peralta and Sosa or anything about motive.

After learning of these developments, Tampa police detectives also interviewed Franco Peralta, who said he went to the Packwood Avenue home to meet with Morales. He said the two men went to a shed, where Franco Peralta told Morales he killed Sosa and wanted Morales to help him get rid of the knife and “involved vehicles,” according to the court documents.

Franco Peralta said Morales got agitated and threw something at him. Franco Peralta said he then stabbed Morales once, the documents state. He said they both left the shed and Morales threw a plastic chair at him, and Franco Peralta stabbed him again. Franco Peralta claimed that Morales then pulled a gun, so Franco Peralta stabbed him three more times and left.

Police said evidence at the scene did not support Franco Peralta’s claim that Morales pulled a gun.

Along with the murder charges, Franco Peralta was booked into the Orient Road Jail on three counts of armed burglary, tampering with evidence, fleeing to elude law enforcement, grand theft of a motor vehicle, driving without a valid license and resisting an officer without violence, records show. He was being held in jail without bond.

Prosecutors filed the motion asking a judge to order Franco Peralta to be held without bond while his case is pending, arguing that he’s a danger to the community and is a flight risk because he has already fled from law enforcement and has ties to Cuba.

A hearing on the motion is set for Wednesday.