Man kills girlfriend, stuffs body in suitcase and flees the state, Florida cops say

A man accused of killing his girlfriend and stuffing her in a suitcase in Florida drove around with her body for hundreds of miles before he was shot by U.S. Marshals in Alabama, authorities said.

Jorge Quintero, 41, was booked in the Orange County jail on Monday, Nov. 25 on charges of first-degree murder and fraudulent use of personal identification, records show.

The case has spanned three states and has been unfolding for nearly a month, beginning with the disappearance of 29-year-old Carmen Elsa Escalante Carrera in late October.

On Oct. 29, law enforcement received a request for a welfare check on Quintero and visited his home in Orlando, according to an affidavit to issue warrant filed in Orange County.

There, deputies said they found a bloody scene, including blood-soaked clothes, and in the bathroom a bloody bathtub, a knife and Quintero’s phone.

The couple was in the process of moving into an apartment together, and when deputies went there, they found more blood, this time on the walls and towels, investigators said.

Friends and family couldn’t reach Carrera, who last seen alive getting into a rental pickup truck with her boyfriend the morning of Oct. 28, deputies said. But investigators believe Quintero strangled her to death later that day at their apartment.

He left her body in the truck overnight then skipped town the next day, investigators said.

Bank records revealed that Quintero used his girlfriend’s credit card at a gas station in north Florida about 150 miles away from their apartment. The truck was captured on surveillance footage with a suitcase and a “plastic, human shaped bag” in the bed, deputies said.

Quintero is accused of driving to Seminole County, Georgia, with Carrera’s body in the suitcase — and her dismembered arm in another bag — before dumping her remains on Oct. 29 and continuing on to Alabama.

Two days later, the U.S. Marshals Service tracked Quintero to a strip mall in Alabama and confronted him, leading to marshals shooting him, according to law enforcement.

Only a few hours after the shootout, Georgia authorities found human remains in a suitcase and plastic bag near the stretch of highway where cameras last showed the items in the bed of the truck, deputies said.

An autopsy revealed Quintero had double-bagged Carrera’s body, with the power cord still wrapped around her neck, before putting her in the suitcase. It appeared he had cut off one of her arms and had unsuccessfully tried to cut off the other arm and a leg, according to the report.

In the hospital after the shooting, Quintero could only communicate by nodding and shaking his head, deputies said. When asked if he knew where Carrera was, he shook his head, investigators said.

Authorities secured an arrest warrant, and he was brought back to Florida for prosecution.

This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Man kills girlfriend, stuffs body in suitcase and flees the state, Florida cops say."