The estranged husband of a South Florida mom missing since March has been arrested for her murder.
The body of Vilet Torrez has not been found, but police indicated the whole of the evidence in the case was enough to arrest her husband Cid Torrez for first-degree murder.
"I don't think that there was one piece of evidence that really put him behind bars," said Miramar PD spokesman Tania Rues, according to NBC6. "It was a variety of things."
Torrez was arrested at his parents' home in Miami Lakes, from which the couple's three children were removed and taken to their maternal grandparents.
“It’s a mixture of shock and, 'Oh my goodness, finally,'” sister-in-law Julie Spurlock Blanco told CBS Miami. “Maybe we can start to get the closure that we need.”
Investigators have worked the case since Cid Torrez first reported his estranged wife missing April 2, after keeping their children for a weekend in her home. Surveillance video shows Vilet returning to her Miramar townhome community the night of Friday, March 30.
But Vilet Torrez was never seen again, and her family said it was highly unlike the devoted mom and marketer to abandon her children. Investigators found her minivan in the parking lot, and removed items from the home that reportedly included bathroom towels and ladies shorts with what may be blood stains.
But though detectives searched a number of lakes and canals in the area, they were unable to turn up a body. Cid Torrez's attorney, Richard Della Fera, told NBC 6 there is no new evidence.
"If they decided to charge my client now, after 8 months, they are doing so only with circumstantial evidence, and circumstantial evidence cases are very difficult to prove," he said.
Vilet Torrez's brother previously told HuffPost Miami Cid Torrez had been abusive and twice told others his wife was dead before she went missing. The arrest was an emotional moment for the family.
"We couldn't believe it in the beginning, never expected it to happen a day before Thanksgiving," said sister Nayiva Blanco, fighting back tears. "We have been thinking about them today a lot. My mother has been crying since this morning, knowing it that it was going to be our first Thanksgiving without her."
