Maintenance found dead man in Miami hotel in 2024. A year later, woman locked up

A maintenance employee at the Holiday Inn-Miami International Airport entered room #420 to fix a telephone line — but instead found a naked, dead man underneath the bed in the summer of 2024. Now, more than a year after the man’s death, Miami-Dade Sheriff’s detectives have arrested a woman in connection to his slaying.

An autopsy ruled Jason Durrell Anderson’s death as a homicide and a doctor noted the 43-year-old had “multiple injuries and lacerations to his facial area, in addition to hemorrhaging in his neck area,” read the arrest warrant for 39-year-old Elizabeth Hernandez, who’s charged with first degree murder.

Anderson had checked in to the hotel, located at 1111 South Royal Ponciana Boulevard in Miami Springs, on June 19, 2024, a day before he was found dead, law enforcement officials said. Security footage showed Anderson was accompanied by Hernandez as well as Yoan Guzman-Zequeira, 41. The relationship between the three remains unclear.

Hernandez and Guzman-Zequeira were seen leaving the hotel on camera at around 1 a.m. on June 20, carrying out several bags, including a clear one that possibly contained bed sheets or towel’s, detectives laid out in Hernandez’s arrest warrant. Guzman-Zequeira was observed wearing clothes that could have possibly been for Anderson, authorities say.

Several blood drops were spotted on the hallway wall and door frame of the hotel room, per investigators. Latent fingerprints were also discovered. Anderson’s body had obvious signs of trauma, including bite marks.

Stolen debit cards

Miami-Dade homicide detectives uncovered that a few days after Anderson’s death, multiple purchases were made across Miami-Dade County using his debit card.

Detectives visited several of the locations where the transactions occurred and obtained surveillance footage. The videos showed Hernandez and Guzman-Zequeira swiping Anderson’s debit card, her arrest warrant reveals.

Authorities said approximately $6,000 in Anderson’s account was completely drained by June 24, 2024.

The week after Anderson’s murder, a front clerk desk identified Hernandez as the woman who accompanied him during check-in, per her arrest report.

Further surveillance footage provided investigators with a clearer timeline leading up to the alleged homicide.

Video from Casino Miami, located at 3500 NW 37th Avenue, captures Hernandez and Guzman-Zequeira entering the casino around 3:50 a.m. on June 20, 2024, where they met with a man identified as Dagmart Perez, 41, whose fingerprints would match the ones found in the hotel room, authorities say.

A few hours later, around 7:40 a.m., Perez and Guzman-Zequeira were seen on hotel security cameras entering the Holiday Inn and taking the elevator to the floor where Anderson was staying in room 420. They remained there for about 30 minutes before leaving the hotel on foot. Guzman-Zequeira was seen carrying a black plastic bag as they exited.

Anderson would be found dead by the maintenance worker around 7:50 p.m.

Met at the casino?

Homicide investigators later found Perez, who said he had recently met all three men at Casino Miami.

According to Perez, he encountered Guzman-Zequeira at the casino on June 20 and mentioned that he was tired and looking for a place to rest. Guzman-Zequeira offered the use of his hotel room at the Holiday Inn. When Perez accompanied him to room 420, he said the room was “dirty and in disarray,” the arrest warrant read.

Perez stated Guzman-Zequeira became upset when he touched items in the room, prompting Perez to say he felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave. The two men then exited the hotel together. Investigators confirmed that Perez’s account matched the surveillance footage recovered from the Holiday Inn.

An arrest warrant for Hernandez was issued on Sept. 5 and she was taken into custody a month later, on Oct. 8. Along with a murder charge, she’s charged with grand theft and fraudulent use of a credit card. Though the warrant did not detail specifics on how Hernandez is directly tied to Anderson’s muder.

She remains locked up at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after a judge denied her bond.