Miami-Dade triple murder suspect found dead as police search desperately for missing newborn

Ernesto Caballeiro, who police suspect abducted his 7-day-old son after shooting and killing the child’s mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, was found dead in a rural wooded area just north of Tampa Wednesday afternoon of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

But the desperate statewide search by law enforcement after the suicide and ghastly triple murder was far from over. Still missing was little Andrew, a child so young that survival on his own for any length of time seemed unlikely, police said.

“A newborn, obviously without parental care, every minute counts,” said Miami-Dade Detective Christopher Sowerby-Thomas. “That’s why we’re reaching out to hospitals, schools and other safe havens.”

Caballeiro, 49, was found dead just past noon Wednesday in a heavily wooded area about three miles from Interstate 75 near the town of Blanton, just north of Tampa in Pasco County. The white van law enforcement had been searching for was discovered about 50 yards away on the side of the road. Inside the van, police said, were old receipts and a pacifier.

Though there was no sign of Andrew, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco added a new wrinkle to the manhunt, one that left at least a glimmer of hope that Andrew may still be alive.

Police found the van, he said, after someone called the Pasco sheriff’s office about a suspicious vehicle early Wednesday afternoon. A witness, he said, reported that there appeared to be a blond woman inside the vehicle.

It wasn’t clear who that witness was, but the sheriff said they were working to verify the report and create a sketch that could potentially help lead to Andrew.

A Pasco deputy had responded to the call about the vehicle and matched the van’s license plate to it. Police called in K9s and quickly found Caballeiro about 50 yards from the van.

“I sit here and pray to God that it is true and that she has the baby,” said the sheriff. “If the woman is out there, please come forward. I promise you that all we care about is that little Andrew is OK.”

All afternoon Wednesday law enforcement searched the area near the white van for the child, helicopters flying overhead, investigators searching through and under brush, bloodhounds trying to pick up a scent. But by early evening there was still no sign of Andrew.

Blanton is a rural community filled with vast ranches crisscrossed by narrow two-lane roads. The van was found on the side on an old, cracked stretch of Jessamine Road. Crime scene tape and law enforcement vehicles blocked off both sides of the roadway.

The Sheriff’s Office sent its canines to help search the area. Horse trailers pulled up to unload mounted patrols to search on horseback. As the sun set, a search line formed in a vacant, fenced-in pasture. Sheriff’s officials and other searchers walked forward in unison, slowly searching the ground ahead of them.

Law enforcement began a desperate statewide search Tuesday after a relative called Miami-Dade police to say they had not been able to get in touch with the infant’s family. Police went to Caballeiro’s home at 21941 SW 187th Ave., and found the three women shot to death with a high-powered rifle and the child missing.

Late Wednesday, police identified the dead women as Andrew’s mother, Ariety Garcia-Valdes, 40; grandmother Isabela Valdes, 60; and great-grandmother Lina Gonzalez, 84.

The department said it was trying to piece together the “van’s travels” over the last 36 hours and shared photos of the white utility van that had at least two bumper stickers, including one that says FeelTheBern.

By Wednesday morning the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had issued a statewide Amber Alert for Andrew, with electronic billboards along roadways featuring the vehicle Caballeiro was believed to be traveling in, a white 2001 Chevrolet Express with the license tag HETY13. Police described the van as having several decals, one that says “Nesty School Services” and another, “Caution: Transporting Children.”

Authorities later updated the Amber Alert with new vehicle information: a Ford passenger van with Florida tag number KUSK23.

That van was found in Pasco. Police said Caballeiro had access to several vehicles.

Roads near the Caballeiro home in the Redland just northwest of Homestead were blocked off as helicopters hovered overhead and K9s searched fields, canals and around homes. Caballeiro has owned the four-acre property since 2005, according to Miami-Dade property records.

Bill Crawford, who’s lived on 218th Street close to the Caballeiro home since 1980, said he only realized something had been going on when he heard the helicopter flying above. He said he didn’t know much about the family.

“Everybody sticks to themselves down here,” Crawford said.

Public records list Nesty School Services as a company owned by Caballeiro that transports students to and from about a dozen South Dade elementary, middle and high schools. Its Facebook page says it’s licensed and insured. Some of the schools listed on its website include Coral Reef and Robert Morgan Senior High schools and Jack D. Gordon Elementary.

Miami-Dade Public Schools spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez said Nesty is not a contracted vendor with the school system. She said it’s not unusual for companies to market themselves independently and contract service directly with parents.

State records show that Caballeiro has several arrests in Miami-Dade over the years. In 2004 he was accused of a slew of car thefts and of running a chop shop. Caballeiro wound up pleading guilty and accepting probation on a single charge of grand theft. He was also granted a withhold of adjudication, which meant a criminal conviction did not appear on his record. His probation ended in 2006. He also has previous arrests for aggravated assault and loitering, both cases that were dropped.

Nocco, the Pasco County sheriff, said Miami-Dade detectives were on their way to Pasco Wednesday night to help in the search for the child and the investigation into the suicide and murders. He said that Caballeiro’s truck had about half a tank of diesel fuel left and that investigators were trying to retrace its route. But, said the sheriff, all that was secondary at the moment as the massive search for Andrew continued into the night.

“Our best hope right now,” said Nocco, “is that he handed that baby off to somebody.”

El Nuevo reporter Ana Claudia Chacin and Miami Herald Staff Writer Michelle Marchante contributed to this report. Also contributing to this report was Jamal Thalji of the Tampa Bay Times.