Florida authorities charged a male MS-13 gang member on parole with murder and other offenses after police said he killed and dismembered an Uber Eats driver making his final delivery to the assailant’s home last week.
Oscar Solis Jr., 30, allegedly killed Uber Eats driver — 59-year-old Randall Cooke — while Cooke was making his final delivery of the night to Solis’ home in Holiday, Florida, on April 19, according to authorities.
During a news conference on Tuesday, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said that Solis “yanked” Cooke into his home and butchered him. According to a police affidavit reported by The Associated Press, authorities found the remains of Cooke in trash bags and a cooler, which also had a receipt with Solis’ name on it.
“This was a horrific crime of passion,” Nocco told reporters. “This was demonic. What he did was demonic.”
Cooke reportedly told his wife via text message that he had one delivery left to complete before returning to their residence. After the victim’s wife didn’t hear from her husband, Nocco said she contacted the police and filed a missing person’s report later that evening.
“He was just a guy like everybody else, just trying to make a living for his family,” Nocco said.
Authorities were able to track down Cooke’s final delivery location through Uber Eats.
Nocco said police searched around Solis’ house the day after Cooke disappeared and attempted to make contact with the occupants. Police returned to the residence on April 21, where they could view surveillance footage given by a roommate of Solis, which showed Cooke making the food delivery until the camera cut off when he arrived at the door.
Video footage later showed two men carrying heavy trash bags outside. The other man allegedly accompanying Solis was not charged by police.
Jail records observed by The Associated Press report that Solis faces charges of murder while engaged in a robbery, failure to register as a convicted felon, and for parole violation.
Indiana authorities released Solis from prison in January after he served four years for an assault and burglary conviction, Nocco said. Upon his release, Solis’ moved to Florida. According to the affidavit, Solis, who stands 6-foot-4, and weighs 315 pounds, worked security at a strip club.
“You’re talking about a violent individual that Indiana released and sent down to Florida,” he said. “They released him on parole. Unfortunately, now we have a hardworking guy, a loving husband, who is no longer with us because this violent individual killed him.”
Nocco confirmed Solis had been affiliated with the international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1970s and 1980s Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13.
The announcement from Pasco County Sheriff’s authorities comes days after the Tampa Police Department arrested and charged a 38-year-old man for allegedly kidnapping and raping a female DoorDash driver in her early 20s, shooting a member of the victim’s family, and then committing a robbery.
Joseph Killins, 38, was arrested on Saturday in relation to a kidnapping and sexual battery that occurred on April 18 just after 11:00 p.m. at a Residence Inn hotel. Police said the suspect held the unidentified female delivery driver at gunpoint, forced her back into her car, and made her drive to the Belara Lakes Apartment complex, where he allegedly raped her.
According to law enforcement, family members of the DoorDash driver rescued her from Killins after tracking her cellphone location. When her family arrived, Killins allegedly fired multiple bullets at the victim’s kin, with one shot striking a family member of the victim’s girlfriend, before fleeing the scene.
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