Man arrested after fatal Miami crash carried out armed robbery a day earlier, cops say
A driver arrested earlier this month following a deadly crash on a major Miami causeway carried out armed robbery a day earlier, authorities say.
Dionicio Enrique Castro, who was already facing multiple drug and firearm related charges in connection to a collision on the 79th Street Causeway that left a woman dead, now is accused of armed robbery, Miami-Dade County jail records show. The 30-year-old Miami Beach resident remained locked up at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Thursday night.
According to a Miami Beach police report, Castro had drinks with a man at two different bars, first in Miami Beach and then in Miami during the early morning hours of Feb. 7. Sometime after 6 a.m., investigators say, the victim asked Castro for a ride to his house. Detectives say Castro agreed, and the victim sat in the backseat of Castro’s black 2020 Mazda CX5 while a friend of the victim sat in the front.
Police say everything was going well until the victim tried to get out of the vehicle in the area of 1225 Marseille Dr. in Miami Beach. That’s when, cops say, Castro demanded the victim’s wallet.
READ MORE: Driver arrested after deadly Miami Causeway crash. See what cops found inside his SUV
When the victim refused, Castro got upset, pulled out a firearm and hit the victim on the head, according to detectives. Fearing for his life, investigators say, the victim handed over his wallet. But to Castro’s surprise, the wallet was full of $1,200 in fake bills that the victim had so he could act like he had a lot of money.
Detectives spotted Castro’s Mazda while reviewing surveillance footage from the area, they say, and later determined it was the same SUV involved in a fatal crash on the 79th Street Causeway in Miami the day after the robbery. The victim also identified Castro in a photo lineup, police say.
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Miami Causeway crash leaves a woman dead
Castro was arrested in connection to the Feb. 8 crash that left a woman dead and several others injured after police say he was driving so fast on the 79th Street Causeway that his SUV went airborne for about 23 feet and crashed into another vehicle.
According to Miami police, Castro was driving eastbound in the 1200 block of the causeway around 2:45 p.m. when he veered to the left, striking the median, before his SUV launched into the air and landed on the westbound lanes. His SUV then skid roughly 20 feet and rammed into a gray Nissan sedan with three women inside ages 48, 39 and 19.
READ MORE: Four injured in multi-vehicle crash that shut down a major Miami causeway, police say
The women were taken with head injuries to the Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center, where the 39-year-old front passenger died hours later, police said. Castro was taken with a fractured and dislocated hip to the same hospital, where he remained until he was booked into jail Feb. 10.
Castro was traveling alone — but police say he was not empty-handed. Detectives note they found a loaded semiautomatic handgun, a baggie with what could be over 20 grams of marijuana and a small scale used to weigh narcotics inside of his vehicle. At the Ryder Trauma Center, medical staff discovered a small baggie with suspected cocaine in his wallet and another with Ecstasy in one of his pants’ pockets, according to police.
Castro, who had an active bench warrant for theft out of Miami-Dade, is yet to be charged with any traffic-related crimes, but investigators said he caused the crash while driving in a “careless and reckless manner.”
His next court cases are March 1 on the drug and weapon charges and March 3 on the armed robbery charge, both at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami.
This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 7:56 PM.
