In Seminole County, Florida, a tragic incident unfolded last year when a woman was carjacked near Winter Springs. Tragically, her lifeless body was discovered burnt in the aftermath of a car fire in Osceola County.
On Wednesday, News 6 uncovered more details about the investigation, including the woman’s apparent role in a wide-ranging drug scheme.
The unsettling event took place in April 2024, as Katherine Aguasvivas, aged 41, was captured on video being forcefully taken from her vehicle and abducted at an intersection in Winter Springs.
[WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE CARJACKING BY CLICKING IN THE MEDIA PLAYER BELOW]
Just a few hours later, Aguasvivas’ body was discovered in her burnt-out Durango at a construction site in Boggy Creek, deputies said at the time.
Following the incident, multiple individuals have been formally accused in relation to her tragic demise. Recent revelations from investigators suggest that Aguasvivas was deliberately singled out as the target of this heinous crime.
According to these investigators, Aguasvivas had driven up from her home in Homestead to Seminole County to collect $170,000 in drug money from a man named Giovany Crespo Hernandez.
[WHO’S WHO? Everyone in the brazen Winter Springs carjacking, murder case, from victim to suspects]
But as Aguasvivas headed home, Hernandez conspired with two others — Jordanish Torres Garcia and Kevin Ocasio Justiniano — to rob and kill her, detectives claimed.
Court records show that Aguasvivas was supposed to deliver the cash to her husband, Miguel Aguasvivas.
In one such record filed this week, investigators accused Miguel Aguasvivas of being involved in money laundering operations between 2021 and April 2024.
“(Miguel) Aguasvivas was a money courier who would pick up drug proceeds in Central Florida and then drop off money to an individual he believed to be a money launderer (but who was actually a DEA undercover agent) for purposes of converting it to cryptocurrency,” the report reads.
In fact, DEA agents said they were expecting Miguel Aguasvivas or a co-conspirator to drop off drug money collected in Orlando on the day of his wife’s trip to Seminole County, but it was ultimately canceled due to her death.
The DEA had been looking into Miguel Aguasvivas amid a larger investigation into a money laundering ring that would send cryptocurrency to a drug cartel in Colombia, records indicate.
According to investigators, Katherine Aguasvivas and her husband had been separated, but Miguel Aguasvivas reportedly used the April 2024 trip to help her with costs.
[TIMELINE: Here’s what to know about the brazen Winter Springs carjacking case so far]
“(Miguel) and (Katherine) were separated at the time of her death, and (Miguel) was helping (Katherine) pay rent by giving her the chance to act as a courier and make $1,000 per trip,” the report continues.
Detectives added that Katherine Aguasvivas had previously made over 10 trips to the Orlando area to pick up drug money.
Miguel Aguasvivas was ultimately indicted on a charge of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
Under the terms of a plea deal filed on Monday, investigators said that Miguel Aguasvivas faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence, as well as a fine of up to $500,000.
He is set to appear in federal court on Friday morning in Orlando to determine whether a judge will accept the deal.
You can read more about the details of the case in the plea agreement attached below.
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