2 North Carolina men arrested after Pennsylvania woman found dead in Miami Beach hotel room
03/23/2021 11:05 am PDT
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (TCD) --
Two North Carolina residents were arrested in Miami Beach last week after a Pennsylvania woman was found dead in a hotel room days earlier.
A 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman was found dead at the Albion Hotel on James Avenue in Miami Beach on Thursday, March 18. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office did not release a cause of death. A possible drug overdose was suspected.
WPLG-TV reports the woman's body was found partially clothed in her room at the hotel, according to Miami Beach Police. Surveillance video reportedly shows two men entering the Albion Hotel with the victim and later leaving without her.
Evoire Collier, 21, and Dorian Taylor, 24, are accused of stealing the woman’s credit cards.
The Miami Herald reports Collier confessed to police that he and Taylor met the woman at a local restaurant. Collier claimed Taylor gave the woman a “green pill” as they walked on Ocean Drive, but it was unclear from the arrest report if she took the pill willingly, or if it was “slipped.” Collier told police he believed it was the pain reliever Percocet.
The two men are accused of going with the woman to her hotel, where “they had sex with her multiple times and once she was unconscious or out” the suspects “remained inside the unit and didn’t call for assistance or help and began to take all her items,” WPLG reports.
The Miami Herald quotes the police report: “The fact that the victim was under the influence of alcohol and narcotics, she could not have consented to sex with the defendants.”
A detective testified hotel video showed the woman was staggering as they walked into the elevator at the hotel, the Herald reports.
The suspects are accused of stealing cash, credit cards and the woman’s phone and leaving her in her room “without any concern for her welfare or safety.”
The suspects were reportedly recorded on video using the credit cards around Miami Beach, including at a liquor store. Police allegedly found the woman’s phone and green pills in Taylor’s possession, the Herald reports.
Evoire Collier, 21, and Dorian Taylor, 24, were both charged with burglary with assault or battery; sexual battery; credit card fraud; and theft. Both men were held without bond. Collier and Taylor will reportedly be arraigned in about three weeks.
According to the Miami Herald: “The arrests come as Miami Beach police and city officials have been grappling with the overwhelming spring break crowds, instituting an 8 p.m. curfew aimed at cracking down on rowdy revelers on the streets. In recent weeks, South Beach has seen brawls, crowd stampedes and police confrontations involving the use of pepper balls.”
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