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Carlos Ortiz and Tara Rosado were found dead at their Florida Keys residence on October 15, 2015. Their neighbors made the 911 call after they found the couple deceased in a pool of blood. When the cops arrived, Tara’s children were taken to the neighbor's house, for safekeeping, until the investigation was concluded.
With zero-to-no evidence, no signs of forced entry, and not enough suspects, this homicide was a hard nut to crack for the Florida detectives initially. However, with the help of forensics, the FBI, and a dive team, the homicide was finally solved with enough evidence surfacing in time to charge the killer and declare him guilty.
On December 19, 2017, Jeremy Macauley was charged with the double homicide and sentenced to 2 consecutive life sentences and an additional thirty years in prison for armed robbery. Meanwhile, his accomplice Adrian Demblans who drove him and out of the crime scene, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for being an accessory to the felony.
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The Real CSI: Miami season one episode one, titled The Catch which aired on CBS on July 26, 2024, replayed this double homicide. The episode is going to be reaired on September 11, 2024, at 9:00 pm EST. The official synopsis for the same reads as follows:
"Crime scene investigators use cutting-edge data forensic techniques to solve a double homicide that shattered a community in the Florida Keys."
5 key details about Carlos Ortiz and Tara Rosado’s death
1) A horrifying crime scene
As shown in The Real CSI: Miami, when lead detective Vince Weiner arrived at the scene, he found Carlos Ortiz and Tara Rosado lying dead on the floor of their home. They were both shot in the head and murdered in cold blood.
An illustration was also found from the scene, which resembled how the couple was killed. It looked like a rough sketch by Tara Rosado's kids, who could have seen the death of their parents and drawn the same. However, the sketch did not aid in the investigation.
The clothes in the dresser were scattered everywhere and some were even on the floor, which led the detectives to speculate that an altercation might have taken place, that caused this mess. However, the rest of the rooms were in perfect shape.
Vince Weiner, lead detective assigned to this case, talked about this double homicide and revealed in The Real CSI: Miami, that,
"Although we do have our violent crime and we do have our homicide here or there, this was one of the most brutal homicides we have had in Key Largo in over 25 years..."
2) The iPhone was missing
As shown in The Real CSI: Miami, the Asus Zenphone that the investigators discovered while searching the crime scene was subsequently determined to belong to Tara Rosado.
Additionally, a plugged-in iPhone charger was discovered at the scene. However, no iPhone or other Apple products were found in the home. This led the police to wonder why Carlos Ortiz and Tara Rosado would have an Apple charger at home if the occupants did not own any Apple devices.
The murder case was next solved when the iPhone was eventually found submerged and helped connect the dots to the killer.
3) No murder weapon was found at the scene
As revealed in The Real CSI: Miami, when the investigators first started looking into the couple's death and came up with speculations, they thought that maybe it was a crime of passion. It's possible that one of the parties killed the other because they wanted to leave or were having an affair, and the killer shot themself consumed by guilt.
However, although 2 bullet casings were found, there was no murder weapon, which made the detectives believe that there was a third person in the room, who killed the couple. However, there were again no signs of forced entry, no motive behind the murders, and no leads initially, which made this double homicide a hard case for the detectives.
4) Digital forensics from the phone helped crack the case
A video retrieved from the Asus Zenphone, which belonged to Tara Rosado, showed the killer Jeremy Macauley, showing cocaine to Carlos Ortiz, which led to the next step of the investigation. The phone also had chats between Jeremy Macauley and Carlos Ortiz, who talked about a business transaction, following which Jeremy Macauley threatened to kill Carlos.
The detectives later found out that Jeremy Macauley had recovered 12 ounces of cocaine approximately from the canal, which he had given to Carlos to sell. However, Carlos instead started to use it and didn’t pay Jeremy’s share of the money, which was the driving motive behind the murders.
5) The FBI recovered the surveillance footage
The victims' neighbors had a CCTV outside their home, which could have recorded something related to the double homicide. However, becuase that day's film had been erased, it took a long time for the FBI to reformat it and retrieve the surveillance tape.
When the tape was retrieved, a man driving a black 2013 Toyota Rav 4 was captured on camera pulling up to Tara Rosado’s home, entering, and then leaving after four minutes.
Following an investigation, it was discovered that Adrian Demblans, Jeremy Macauley's accomplice driver, had borrowed the car from Montenegro, the owner. In the same vehicle, he took Jeremy Macauley to the crime scene, and after Jeremy Macauley killed Carlos Ortiz and Tara Rosado, he drove him out of the scene in the same car.
To know more about this homicide, watch The Real CSI: Miami season one episode one on CBS.
