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Thread: Luis Christopher Caballero - Florida

  1. #1
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    Luis Christopher Caballero - Florida






    Summary of Offense:

    On July 15, 1995, the body of Denise O’Neill was found dumped in a canal near the Sawgrass Expressway in Broward County. Her body was covered by a sheet and was bound with black shoelaces, a multicolored dog leash, and electrical cords attached to heat rocks. Her clothing had been cut in the crotch area.

    Police canvassed O’Neill’s apartment complex, looking for neighbors with reptiles and dogs as pets, since the body was bound with a dog leash and electrical cords attached to heat rocks, which are used in reptile tanks. Investigators learned that Luis Caballero lived next door to O’Neill and owned snakes and a dog. Caballero accompanied detectives to the police station for questioning. At the police station, Caballero confessed to O’Neill’s murder, but stated he only served as a lookout while Isac Brown committed the robbery and murder.

    According to Caballero, on the day of the murder, Caballero saw O’Neill carrying a laundry basket up the stairs. As she reached the door, Brown pushed her inside Caballero’s apartment and shoved her to the floor. Brown and Caballero restrained her with towels from her laundry basket and gagged her with a sock. O’Neill gave Brown and Caballero credit card and banking information, which the two used to withdraw $700 from her credit card account. O’Neill was assured by Brown and Caballero that she would be dropped off somewhere after dark, but Caballero was wary that she would be able to identify him as her neighbor. Caballero then planned to murder O’Neill, but could not agree as to who would carry out the murder. Brown said he would kill O’Neill if he received a larger share of her money. Caballero initially denied participating in the actual murder, but later admitted to helping Brown carry out the crime. Brown first tried to strangle O’Neill with an electrical cord, but the cord broke, so Brown used a second cord while Caballero covered O’Neill’s mouth. After ten to twelve minutes, O’Neill died. Caballero then cut a hole in the crotch of O’Neill’s shorts and had sex with the body and ejaculated.

    Later that night, Caballero and Brown wrapped O’Neill’s body in a sheet and tied the sheet with black shoelaces and electrical cords. They loaded the body into the trunk of her car and dumped the body in a canal near the Sawgrass Expressway. After dumping the body, Brown and Caballero again used her credit card to withdraw $400 from her credit card account. They split the money while eating breakfast at an International House of Pancakes (IHOP) restaurant. Although Caballero never mentioned the involvement of another co-defendant, Robert Messer, he was arrested during the investigation of the murder. Messer was implicated in the crime when an IHOP waitress noted that a third man accompanied Brown and Caballero. Messer’s fingerprints were also found in O’Neill’s car.

    Caballero was sentenced to death in Broward County on February 15, 2001.

    Co-defendant information:
    Caballero’s co-defendants, Isac Brown and Robert Messer, were tried separately and convicted of offenses related to the murder of Denise O’Neill.
    Isac Brown was convicted of one count each of second-degree murder, kidnapping, and robbery and was sentenced to life imprisonment, 30 years, and 15 years, respectively.
    Robert Messer was convicted of one count of manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years, nine months imprisonment. He was released from prison on June 1, 2002.

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Case Information:

    Caballero filed a Direct Appeal with the Florida Supreme Court on 03/22/01, citing the following errors: allowing improper comments by the prosecutor as to Caballero’s right to remain silent; finding that the capital felony was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner; failing to consider Caballero’s age as a mitigating factor; admitting testimony as to the codefendant’s Second-Degree Murder conviction; disproportionate use of the death penalty; and unconstitutionality of Florida’s death penalty statute. On 07/10/03, the convictions and sentences were affirmed.

    Caballero filed a 3.851 Motion with the Circuit Court on 10/04/04 and amended the motion on 12/06/04, 01/23/06, and 04/12/07. The motion is pending.

  3. #3
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    According to the Florida Dept of Corrections, Luis Caballero is deceased as of September 13, 2013.

  4. #4
    Moderator Dave from Florida's Avatar
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    I remember this case. Unfortunately, only Caballero got a death sentence. Hopefully Rick Scott will get re-elected, the Timely Justice Act will take effect and Father Time will continue to clear Death Row out.

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    West Palm Beach woman's killer dies of cancer on death row

    A death row inmate didn't live long enough to see his execution date.

    After spending 12 years on death row for strangling a West Palm Beach woman and dumping her body in a canal between Coral Springs and Tamarac, Luis "Chris" Caballero has died of cancer.

    Ten days shy of his 40th birthday, he died Sept. 13, officials from the state Department of Corrections said.

    Caballero admitted that after he killed Denise O'Neill in July 1995, he had sex with her body.

    He kidnapped his 28-year-old neighbor from the door of her apartment at the Clear Lake Colony complex and held her hostage. He also tole her ATM and credit cards and burglarized her apartment.

    O'Neill's strangled and bound body was wrapped in a sheet when it was found in a canal two days later.

    O'Neill's mother, Anne, said she did not care whether it was cancer or lethal injection that brought Caballero to his end.

    "Truthfully, I'm very glad the monster is off the face of the Earth," Anne O'Neill, 69, of Cape Cod, Mass., said Friday. "I cursed him every day for the last 18 years and 60 days, every day."

    Her daughter, she said, worked her way through the University of San Diego and Boston College with dreams of becoming a teacher.

    "She had a love of learning, a love of knowledge, a love of reading," Anne O'Neill said. "She would have brought kids to a higher level; she just never got the opportunity."

    While trying to land a teaching job, Denise O'Neill was working as a waitress at Charley's Crab restaurant in Palm Beach County.

    At trial, prosecutors said Caballero targeted Denise O'Neill after seeing her pay rent in cash from her tips. He enlisted his roommate, Isac Quincey Brown, to help. Another man, Robert Messer, helped dispose of the body.

    Brown, 38, is serving a life sentence. Messer, also 38, served five years. Messer returned to prison in 2006 to serve another 10 years in an unrelated sex case.

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-...,1288922.story
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