TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A woman is accused of helping her boyfriend kill two people last month and trying to frame one of the murder victims.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrested Fatima Lizeth Garcia Avila, 20, of Lakeland, and Daniel Negrete, 27. The couple faces multiple charges in connection with the deaths of Erica Aviles and Antonio Cuellar-Enriquez.
Deputies said Aviles, 22, was shot and killed outside her home in Dover on the evening of July 18. Her husband, Cornelio Negrete, was injured in the shooting.
Cornelio said he was putting their 7-month-old son to bed when he started to hear gunshots.
“I hear him scream. I am exhausted. I see her on the ground,” he recalls.
Cornelio said his wife asked him to get a gun, so he picked up a gun. When he returned outside, he was hit by something and “passed out”. He woke up to see someone driving his truck, a Chevrolet Avalanche, away from the scene.
He had to go to Tampa General Hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries. He had no visible head injury and a CT scan was negative for head trauma, according to the report.
The couple’s two children, who were inside the house at the time, were not injured.
Deputies found six 9mm shell casings on the ground next to his wife’s body. A Glock gun was found behind a car outside, and several guns, which belonged to Cornelio, were found inside the house.
Deputies said Cornelio’s truck, a Chevrolet Avalanche, was found completely engulfed in flames about eight miles from the shooting. They were unable to collect any evidence of the vehicle as it was badly damaged.
According to deputies, cellphone data placed Cornelio at his residence from the time his wife was shot until they arrived at the scene.
Deputies reviewed surveillance video recorded the night of the shooting and spotted two vehicles, the Avalanche and a red Ford Edge, near the burn site when he called 911.
A witness saw the vehicles idling next to each other for a brief period of time before Avalanche drove to the scene. Surveillance video showed a man walking away from the burning vehicle and entering the Edge, according to the report.
Days before his death, deputies said Aviles had booked an Airbnb about two blocks from the burn site. Her husband said she was having affairs with two men. He said he spoke to the two men on the phone and they admitted it. He also admitted to texting them from his wife’s phone, impersonating her.
Aviles’ father contacted law enforcement and showed them a suspicious text message from a number belonging to Antonio Cuellar-Enriquez, a former employee of his tire shop.
In the text, “Antonio” apparently confesses to having killed his daughter, apologizes for what “they did”. He asks for forgiveness and says his conscience was “killing” him.
“That wasn’t the plan,” the text read, according to the report.
He also claimed that the other two men were threatening him and that he feared for his safety. He said he wanted Cornelio to suffer.
Two days later, Erica’s father and brother received another suspicious text from the same number.
Cuellar-Enriquez was found shot on July 26 at the Baker Creek boat launch in Thonotosassa. Investigators have determined that he had died before the text messages were sent.
Deputies said Aviles’ brother put them in touch with a witness who said Cornelio’s cousin may have been involved in both deaths. WFLA does not name his cousin since he has not been charged with a crime.
Police found the cousin driving a Ford Edge in Plant City on July 29. The vehicle is registered in the name of his girlfriend’s father, deputies said.
Meanwhile, another witness came forward, claiming that the cousin’s girlfriend, Garcia, had made incriminating statements.
The witness said Garcia called her and asked her to be her alibi. They agreed to meet and Garcia spoke to the witness of the murders.
Garcia said she dropped her boyfriend off at Erica’s, knowing he would kill her. She said he walked to Erica’s house and hid in the bed of the truck before shooting her, according to the witness.
Garcia said they went to the burn site because they knew it was near the Airbnb that Erica had rented a few days before. She said they returned to the scene the next day and noticed the vehicle was missing, the witness told investigators.
The witness said that Antonio was Garcia’s ex-boyfriend, so she decided to frame him out of spite.
“I had to use someone to take the fall… so who better than my ex?” she told the witness, according to the report.
Garcia allegedly told the witness that she had Antonio stay overnight at her house and then gave him pills for a headache, hoping he would overdose. When that didn’t work out, she called her boyfriend to come and confront him. She said her boyfriend hit Antonio in the head with a gun and shot him multiple times, although she begged him not to, the witness told investigators.
Garcia said they tried to pass off her death as a suicide and she cleaned up the scene to get rid of their fingerprints. Then she took the victim’s phone and texted Aviles’ father to make it look like he had killed her, according to the witness.
Based on her incriminating statements, Garcia was arrested. She faces two counts of first degree premeditated firearm murder – grievous bodily harm/primary death, two counts of first degree premeditated firearm murder – grievous bodily harm/conspiracy death in intent to commit, witness tampering, witness tampering (during first degree murder).
Negrete was charged with two counts of first degree premeditated firearm murder – grievous bodily harm/death, two counts of first degree premeditated firearm murder – grievous bodily harm/conspiracy to kill, two counts of Felon in possession of a firearm and arson.
“These senseless killings forever changed at least two families,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said. “Ending someone’s life cannot – and should not – be the answer to every situation. Detectives are still connecting the dots to determine the motive for the two murders and if there are other people involved. I pray that these arrests, while not bringing their loved ones home, will allow the families involved to move on. »
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