Missing Woman: Vilet Patricia Torrez--FL--03/29/2012

[LoriDavis]

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21009125139625/man-arrested-in-missing-woman-case-appears-in-court/#ixzz2CzqJEmY6

Man arrested in missing woman denied bond

Posted: Today at 7:15 am EST      Last Updated: Today at 1:37 pm EST

MIRAMAR, Fla. (WSVN) -- A man arrested eight months after his wife disappeared appeared in bond court Thursday.

"You are charged with murder in the first-degree, I find probable you will be detained on no bond hold," said the judge.

Detectives have been working the murder case of Villet Torres for months. Villlet is the Miramar woman that went missing in March.

Wednesday, police finally made an arrest and the person they arrested is her estranged husband, Cid Torres.

Torres' attorney is upset that the court isn't showing him facts to support an arrest. The arrest came even without the recovery of a body.  "What that indicates to me is they're preceeding with a circumstancial evidence case," said Richard Della Fera. "In my opinion, a circumstancial evidence case is very difficult to prove to a jury."

Back in March of this year, Cid reported his wife missing but detectives said, shortly after he reported her missing, he stopped cooperating with the investigation and stopped talking to detectives.

Detectives took Cid Torres to the Broward County Jail. He was arrested at around 8 p.m. Wednesday night at his parents house in Miami Lakes. Officers said he did not resist arrest but has still not spoken to detectives, even when they tried to question him.

One of Villet's sisters was at the Miramar Police Department Wednesday night and spoke to reporters shortly after she found out her brother-in-law had been arrested.

"Never expected this to happen the day before Thanksgiving," said sister Nayiva Blanco. "We had been thinking about them today a lot. My mother's been crying since this morning. Knowing that it was going to be our first Thanksgiving without her and without the children. Not knowing what they were gonna do, how they were going to celebrate it. So it's just an act of God I guess."

The family now hopes they will feel a little bit of closure this Thanksgiving. Detectives in Miramar said even though they have made an arrest, the case is still not over. They still have not found the body of Villet and they are determined to find it.

[LoriDavis]

http://www.local10.com/news/Arrest-affidavit-released-in-missing-woman-case/-/1717324/17692380/-/89208xz/-/index.html

Arrest affidavit released in missing woman case
Cid Torrez charged in wife's death; Vilet Torrez last seen in March

Published On: Dec 07 2012 11:22:06 AM EST  Updated On: Dec 07 2012 11:39:37 PM EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -
Police released the arrest affidavit filed against a man who is charged with killing his wife.

On Thursday, a grand jury indicted Cid Torrez on a premeditated first-degree murder charge. He was arrested Nov. 21 and charged with killing his wife, Vilet Torrez.

"It's been extremely hard," said Vilet's sister.

"The only thing that's missing is the body," said Javier Blanco, Vilet's brother. "She (Vilet) always wanted to protect him (Cid)... She was a woman in love."

Torrez reportedly told police that he last saw his wife March 30. The couple was married but didn't live together. Friends said both planned on getting a divorce.

According to the arrest affidavit, Cid Torrez told police he picked his children up that afternoon and when he came home about midnight, his wife wasn't there and neither was her car. He added that she never returned home.

Surveillance video showed Vilet Torrez driving into the gated community about 5:17 a.m. March 31 after a night out with her boyfriend, and that she made two calls to her husband's cell phone two minutes later, according to the affidavit. Police said Cid Torrez denied receiving those phone calls.

The oldest daughter of the couple told police she woke up early March 31 to what sounded like a dog howling, stated the affidavit.

"They don't have a dog," said Blanco.

The girl told police she then heard either her father or mother crying, and said she went back to sleep because she believed she heard her mother.

"It's incredible that he went to that length to murder his wife when the children are sleeping upstairs," added Blanco.

According to the affidavit, a friend of Vilet Torrez told police that Vilet planned on divorcing her husband, and said that he abused her. The friend said she saw bruises on Vilet's body.

Another mutual friend of the couple who attended group counseling sessions at a church in Hialeah with Cid Torrez said he wanted to kill his wife's boyfriend, and asked where was the best place to hide a body and how to get an illegal gun.

Three days after Vilet Torrez was last seen, Cid Torrez spoke on the phone with the same friend, who urged him to call and report that his wife was missing, stated the affidavit. Police wrote that Torrez didn't ask for help finding his wife.

A pastor at that church also told police Torrez showed up to a retreat a few weeks after his wife was last seen, but didn't ask for help finding her.

"Nobody really took it to the extreme that it should have been taken," said Blanco.

A man who works with Cid Torrez said Torrez once showed him a program he used to monitor his wife's cell phone. Torrez said that's how he found out his wife was cheating on him.

The affidavit states that Cid Torrez told police he spent nine hours at Hollywood Beach alone on April 1st because he fell asleep in his car, adding that he then swam in the ocean and got his car detailed. Police said cell phone records showed no activity on his phone for over 20 hours that day, making it impossible for investigators to obtain a GPS location on his phone during that time.

Police also wrote two cadaver dogs detected the odor of human remains in the trunk and backseat of Cid Torrez's car and at their home.

[LoriDavis]

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-01-25/news/fl-torrez-battery-report-20130125_1_cid-torrez-vilet-torrez-miramar-man

Miramar man charged with missing wife's death, accused of domestic violence in 2003

January 25, 2013|By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel

A Miramar man charged with killing his wife, who disappeared last March, was accused of domestic violence in 2003, a Miami-Dade police report shows.

Cid Torrez allegedly got into a heated argument with Vilet Torrez at a Miami Lakes car dealership on May 28, 2003, grabbed her and "forcefully pushed her into a wall" repeatedly before fleeing in his vehicle, according to the newly surfaced report.

Cid Torrez's defense attorney, Richard Della Fera, said the report never resulted in a case with the State Attorney's Office and would not be admissible at trial.

"My focus is not on public opinion, my focus is on evidence that's admissible in a court of law," Della Fera said.

The 38-year-old mother of three vanished last March. When she went missing, Della Fera said, his client was prepared to divorce his wife of 13 years.

In December, a Broward County grand jury indicted Cid Torrez, 39, on a first-degree murder charge in her death. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail in the Broward Main Jail.

The couple's three children, ages 5 to 13, now are living with Vilet Torrez's parents.

The murder case pivots on circumstantial evidence that portrays Cid Torrez as an abusive and jealous estranged husband who had asked a friend about obtaining a gun, how to dispose of a body and said: "Either she's with me or she's dead."

Vilet Torrez's brother, Javier Blanco, said the report documenting the 2003 battery allegation bolsters the family's belief that Cid Torrez was an abusive husband.

"I have no doubt in my mind that he murdered my sister, I have absolutely no doubt," Blanco said in a telephone interview Friday. "I think [the report] reinforces everything we've been saying. I have no doubt other things will come out later on that will reinforce our story and our feelings about the case."

Cid Torrez is scheduled to be in court Thursday for a status hearing in the murder case.

[Shannon]

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Video-of-Missing-Miramar-Mothers-Townhouse-Latest-Evidence-Released-in-Case-192413131.html

Video of Missing Miramar Mother's Townhouse Latest Evidence Released in Case

By Steve Litz

Thursday, Feb 21, 2013
Updated 11:04 PM EST

Authorities on Thursday released video investigators recorded of the inside of Vilet Torrez's home in Miramar – the latest evidence in the high-profile case of the mother who vanished last March.

Investigators did a walk-through, recording video of everything from the kitchen to the bedrooms.

In the days after her disappearance, Cid Torrez cried in front of reporters, pleading for his estranged wife to come home.

Months later, police arrested Cid Torrez and charged him with Vilet Torrez’s murder. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney Richard Della Fera continues to maintain his client’s innocence.

The missing woman’s dear friend, Clarissa Garcia, has seen some of the evidence.

“It's extremely encouraging because it says what we, that knew the situation and her family knew, what had occurred, what our instinct was from the get-go,” Garcia said.

She said her instinct is that Cid Torrez killed his wife and disposed of her body.

Prosecutors released hundreds of pictures in the case on Wednesday, including photos of Vilet Torrez’s Miramar townhouse, and of Cid Torrez’s white Jaguar, with a spare tire on the back.

Scrapes were visible on the outside of the car, and small dark spots could be seen throughout its interior.

Video released Thursday, taken outside the home, shows what appears to be tire marks on the brick walkway leading to the front door.