Miami Realtor Accused Of Being Serial Killer Who Targeted Homeless Men
“These types of anonymous seemingly haphazard killings can create a real sense of fear and unease,” the Miami-Dade County prosecutor says.
Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department via AP Images
25-year-old real estate agent Willy Suarez Maceo
A former Century 21 real estate agent is suspected of being a serial killer who preyed on multiple vulnerable homeless men, according to Florida authorities.
On Dec. 21 around 8 p.m., Willy Suarez Maceo, 25, allegedly shot a sleeping homeless man in the head in downtown Miami, officials said. The victim survived his injuries but could not recall for police how he was hurt, The Daily Beast reported.
Two hours later that same evening, Maceo is accused of again targeting a sleeping homeless man. Jerome Antonio Price was shot five times and was found dead on a city sidewalk, police said.
Days after the shootings, Maceo was arrested and taken into custody.
“Officers quickly connected the two incidents, not only because of the short span of time between the two shootings but because both incidents involved victims that were homeless,” Miami-Dade Police Department Interim Chief Manuel Morales said at a press conference shortly after.
At another press conference in early February, Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said ballistics tests determined 9mm shell casings recovered at the separate crime scenes were linked.
She also noted surveillance cameras captured the license plate of a black Dodge Charger that was in the area where Price was slain, and detectives were able to determine the vehicle belonged to Maceo.
“This was a key break to start stripping the anonymity away from this alleged mystery killer,” Fernandez Rundle explained.
During Maceo’s arrest, bodycam video shows officers finding a 9 mm Glock in the suspect’s waistband.
The gun turned out to be the weapon “suspected serial killer” Maceo used to shoot Price and injure the second homeless victim, Miami Dade Police Department Interim Chief Manuel Morales said.
According to Morales, an investigator noted Maceo resembled a still shot of a suspect captured in connection to the stabbing death of Manuel Perez, 59, in Miami last October.
Maceo was formally charged with first-degree murder charges for both Perez and Price’s deaths. He also faces an attempted premeditated murder charge for the shooting that preceded Price’s slaying in December.
“These types of anonymous seemingly haphazard killings can create a real sense of fear and unease, particularly among those who may identify as part of a targeted population,” Fernandez Rundle said, WFOR-TV reported.
In 2020, Maceo was placed under an involuntary psychiatric hold after his parents phoned police and alleged he had stopped taking medication to treat a bipolar disorder and was discussing conspiracy theories as he racked a Glock now believed to be the weapon used in the recent shootings, the Daily Beast reported.
According to the outlet, police confiscated a Glock Maceo had in his possession but had to return the weapon upon his release from the hospital.
“I want to applaud the work of the City of Miami Police Department and all of our partners in law enforcement, because in this community, we won’t tolerate crimes against the voiceless, the vulnerable, the homeless,” Fernandez Rundle said.
Maceo is scheduled to next appear in court in mid-April.
