VERO BEACH, Fla. — The remains of a man's body found last month along State Road 60 in Vero Beach have been identified as that of a missing South Florida resident, and a Taramac woman and Tennessee man have been arrested in the homicide, the Broward Sheriff's Office said Monday.
Gianni Coto, 28, of Tamarac, had been reported missing Jan. 25. The body was found just east of Florida's Turnpike and Yeehaw Junction.
Brandon Jenkins, 29, of Clarksville, Tennessee, and Coto's estranged wife, Trinity Bownes, 31, of Tamarac, are expected to be extradited to Broward County from out of the state on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence, according to a BSO news release.
BSO spokeswoman Miranda Grossman said Coto had last been seen alive Jan. 21 on Northwest 77th Court in Tamarac.
Grossman said detectives determined that Coto went to see Bownes that day and got into an argument with her. At some point, Grossman said, Coto was fatally stabbed.
But Bownes wasn't alone. Grossman said Jenkins was also there and got involved in the dispute.
"After Coto was killed, his remains were buried off of State Road 60 in Indian River County," Grossman said.
BSO detectives, with the help of the Indian River County Sheriff's Office, located Coto's body Jan. 30.
Arrest warrants were issued for Bownes and Jenkins, both of whom were taken into custody in other states.
Jenkins was arrested Friday in Tennessee, while Bownes turned herself in the next day at the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office in California.