Opinion ID: 2545608
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Initial Investigation and Encounter with Caraballo

Text: Portobanco, who did not succumb to his injuries, made his way to the side of the road and summoned help. There, a passerby stopped and emergency personnel were called. Portobanco was taken to a Miami hospital where he talked with law enforcement officers while being treated. Portobanco told the officers about the kidnapping and explained that when he last saw Angel, she was alive. After law enforcement officers obtained the numbers for both Angel's and Portobanco's cell phones, a call was traced from one of the phones to a residential telephone number at the Hawthorne Village Apartments in Orlando. The phone number was linked to Hector Caraballo. Given that information, during the morning of April 28, local and statewide law enforcement officers set up a staging area in south Orange County in the vicinity of the Hawthorne Village Apartments. Although the officers did not locate Hector Caraballo, the Hawthorne Village staff informed them that a person named Victor Caraballo was recently a tenant in the complex. Apartment staff told law enforcement that Caraballo had been evicted and that his apartment should be vacant. Law enforcement officers went to the apartment formerly rented by Caraballo and knocked on the door. Hawthorne Village staff, who accompanied the officers to the apartment, discovered that someone placed a new noncompliant lock on the apartment door. Despite multiple attempts to get the attention of anyone who might be inside, no one came to the door. Thereafter, with the consent of Hawthorne Village staff, law enforcement officers kicked in the door and entered the apartment. Once inside the apartment, they discovered that the door had been barricaded with a piece of wood and a hydraulic jack, and they discovered someone who identified himself as Victor Caraballo.