In a homicide reminiscent of a macabre Alfred Hitchcock film, a Florida man has been charged with murdering and dismembering his 71-year-old stepfather, stuffing his remains in suitcases, and scattering the grisly luggage along a roadway in Orlando.
Charged was Jose L. Proano, 44, a convicted felon on probation for armed burglary, after authorities discovered the three suitcases with body parts late in the evening of August 4.
“Jose L. Proano has been arrested on a charge of First Degree Murder,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Office announced on August 5:
The luggage was found along a roadway near the home of Proano’s mother and stepfather, according to Fox News’s report on Sunday that covered the case in detail.
What started as a normal Monday evening went amiss when the family of the stepfather, Jorge Vazquez-Escutia, called police after they found the victim’s phone, wallet, and keys at his home.
They also discovered what appeared to be blood on a fence outside, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit Court.
Vazquez-Escutia’s cars were still parked in his driveway. Their doors were unlocked. Family members had not seen the stepfather for three days, they told Orange County sheriff’s deputies.
The sheriff’s office posted on social media asking for the public’s help to find Vazquez-Escutia because he suffers from memory loss and may have wandered off.
Soon the family had another reason to be alarmed. A friend of Proano had tipped off the family with the shocking claim that the stepson had said he killed his stepfather, court records show per the Fox report.
Investigators began looking at a neighbor’s security camera footage. It showed that on the morning of August 2, the day after the missing stepfather was last seen, a subject dressed in black jumped over the back wall of Vazquez-Escutia’s home.
“Later, the same man appears at the back of the house ‘bringing out suitcases… and ultimately placing what appeared to be a human arm, into the suitcase, court records show,” Fox reported.
In the afternoon, the suspect is seen carrying three pieces of “heavy” luggage, detectives said.
After reviewing phone records and speaking to Proano’s ex-wife, detectives asked the suspect to come for an interview. He complied, according to court records, and claimed that was not him in the surveillance video.
However, according to Fox:
He told them he had a “negative relationship” with his stepfather, and believed Vazquez-Escutia had “restricted his ability to see his mother.” He also told investigators about his schizophrenia, which causes voices in his head that lead “him to worry about members of his family.”
Records showed he’d made numerous calls to 911 asking for someone to check on his mother. He believed “bad things were happening,” records with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office show. Deputies checked, found all was well at the home, and reported back to reassure him, records show.
Authorities then discovered the luggage, including one that contained the stepfather’s severed head. The discovery was not unlike the Hitchcock classic Rear Window, where the fictional murderer dismembers his victim and transports the body parts in a suitcase.
Later, examination showed the victim had “defensive wounds,” including a large scratch on his right cheek.
In 2022, Proano was charged with several crimes related to an armed burglary he allegedly committed. He made a plea deal that reduced his sentence and after doing time in the county jail was out on probation until 2027.
He is currently being held without bond in Orange County.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Masquerade: A True Story of Seduction, Compulsion and Murder, the story of the sordid double life of an elite Detroit psychologist, which is revealed only after his murder and dismemberment. See lowellcauffiel.com for more