Question was, why . They were beautiful people, in miamis sizzling south beach, singles who became lovers , and the newlyweds. They were still on their honeymoon, only married four days when this young bride was murdered. I get a Phone Call, screaming, crying. No Murder Weapon, no dna, but no shortage of suspects. Youve got to prove it. Did the redhot Miami Lifestyle have something to do with their death . Did admit to having encounters with other couples there. Or was it simple jealousy . Are you still intimate with yolanda . Yes, we are. Say that again the trail. He said, he did not love her, he loved me. Finally, a verdict. The years of waiting, the years of riding her, we needed justice. Hello, welcome to dateline. Wendy Trapaga Telehealth Head Over Heels for Michel Escoto, an older man with a string of admiring girlfriends, although wendy was his prized catch, the couple quickly married. Then, just days later, the young bride was found dead in a Parking Lot. The mystery of her murder with investigators for years. But the truth would prove more cold blooded than even they could imagine. Here is Dennis Murphy with, mystery in south beach. If you spend any time down here, you probably sensed, there are really two Miami Beaches. You know this one by reputation, anyway. South beach, a Pulsating Playground with energy that surges out of the ocean, and exhausts itself in the allnight columns. And then, there is the old Miami Beach. Here are the sunburned streets of apartments, with decades past , the old people used to sit out in aluminum chairs. That is where a young couple, wendy and michel were trying to make it. The whitbread was cheap and the air conditioning, good enough. If you thought all people catch the brakes , listen to the story of 20yearold Wendy Trapaga, because she may be the most gorgeous, doomed young woman to ever walk the streets. She was model pretty. I dont think she thought of herself as anything spectacular. Her much older sisters and brother never used the qualifier , stepsister, when they spoke Of Wendy. They will tell you, shes a bit of a daddys girl, an international Airline Pilot who died, sadly, in a crash when wendy was just 6. I guess i was like that other mother for her to me because i was pretty much by materials side, raising her. A love of animals was always a part Of Wendy. She was always rescuing a dog, kitten, anything. I kept telling her, dont give up your passion, dont give it up. Wendy did have another passion. It was for fashion and other takeovers. At easter, she memorably dolled up her nieces for a Living Room Fashion show. How nice a kid was this churchgoing, slightly sheltered girl . Well, theres this story of a classmate without a dress. One girl cannot afford to go to prom and wendy got this girl prettied up, got her a dress, everything. After graduation, two cousins who owned their own salons, urged wendy to follow in their footsteps. She had a therefore it appears yes, she did appear to maxima 21, after a Brief Marriage she enrolled in beauty school. In 2002, that is where she first saw Michel Escoto Rumble Up on his Fire Engine red ducati motorcycle. Michel was a Selftaught Web Designer and sometimes a teacher of computing. By his early 30s, he was looking for a career change. He thought he would try hairstyling. He enrolled, as fate would have it, in the same Cosmetology School is wendy. Michel s friend, ramon santa cruz. When i met wendy, he was on a motorcycle. I told myself, a beautiful girl, i dont know what he did to get this girl. Whatever he did, it worked. The pair falling quickly and deeply. Within six months, they were living together on south beach. Wendy gave Michel A makeover dying his hair blonde, perfect for the Club Scene. They lived for the day and then came unexpected news for these two butterflies. Wendy was pregnant. Her mother, muriel, had feelings. How did she feel that her baby was having a baby . Delighted with the fact of being a grandmother, not delighted with the circumstances. Wendy have to be Church Wedding for her first marriage. This time around, she and michel got hitched at Miami Beach city hall. Congratulations. The next day, wendy and Michel Set out for a brief weekend honeymoon, a drive down to Florida Keys to key west. Sunset drinks, dinner, and a hotel room. Three days after the wedding, they were back in Miami Beach sunday evening. Wendy called her mother to say, they were going to a Movie And Dancing later at a club. The mother urged her pregnant daughter not to drink. And then, in the middle of the night, the wee hours of Monday Morning, Wendys Mother got a call from her new soninlaw, michel , saying, they had gotten into an argument. And wendy stormed off then, she was once were mothers house. Since then, the bridegroom said he had repeatedly called wendy without success. Right around then, in a bleak warehouse district, hours and hours after the bars in miami, a Sanitation Worker was startled to see the body of a young woman in a blue dress, slumped between two vehicles. It was the newlywed, wendy. News traveled fast. I get a Phone Call from my stepmother, screaming, crying, wendy is dead, they took her from me. She told me, it is on the news. I went looking, there is my sweet little sister being put on a gurney. And it is just so surreal. This desolate warehouse place. All i kept taking about was her being alone there by herself and frank to god she did not suffer. The killer, who bludgeoned her to death, also erased the beauty of her young face. A Honeymoon Weekend for the new bride had ended behind yellow police tape. Coming up, who killed wendy, and why . Did it have something to do with miamis wild nightlife . He did admit to having encounters with other couples there. When dateline continues. But im protected with arexvy. 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It is where they found in a Parking Lot, the body of Wendy Trapaga , line between a car in a van. We could see Thes Letter of blood on the van, meaning, whoever did this to her, did it right here. This was the place where she was killed . Correct. Her head had been bashed in me but there was no weapon to be found. What type of a homicide is this . Is this a robbery, maybe a Drug Deal gone bad . Tell me what you think about the victim . Shes a young girl, just like she may have gone out the night before. She did not have her shoes on, which is unusual. Why is this young girl in this industrial Parking Lot . No reason to be in this for the part of the county . No, unless you met someone. So the detectives headed out of the Parking Lot. Amid their shock and tears, Detectives Pieced together a sense of who the victim was an what her final hours had been about. Sunday evening, wendy sounded okay, detectives were told. The next call at 5 48 a. M. The One from michel , asking if she was at her moms , was worse. A few hours later, michel was waiting for Wendys Mother where she works. He met her at her job and tells me, he was very disheveled and worried about where she could be. Michel escoto, it turned out, was about to get an official answer to his where is she question. We are talking, the phone rings it is Michel Escoto. Again, asking his mother a lot if she heard from wendy. They headed over to Michel S apartment to deliver the news about his girlfriend of eight months and his bride of four days. We walked into his apartment and he blurted out, is she dead . And we explain, we are investigating the death Of Wendy, et cetera. He started calling out. Doubled over, crying. Police gave him a few minutes to compose himself before asking them to come to headquarters to answer more questions. There, he recounted the brief honeymoon. Michel told detectives that wendy added had the idea of a little spice before rejoining their work lives. We had not had much of a honeymoon, thats extend the honeymoon. As Michel Escoto told it, around midnight, they checked into a hotel that features Fantasy Suites with a private pool and jacuzzi. He says, they had six, slept a little, and wendy goes off in the jacuzzi. Around 4 00 a. M. Michel Says, they checked out and headed home. That is when they said, the newlyweds have their first argument. Michel says, he walked in the apartment, leaving wendy in the car. Three minutes later, he says he comes out. He says, when he comes out, the car is gone, wendy is gone. Detectives spoke with michel for 14 hours and asked him repeatedly if he could identify anyone with a motive , he said he couldnt. After leaving police headquarters, he saw his friend, ramon santa cruz. He was looking depressed. He looked down, maybe tired. Five days after her murder, wendy was laid to rest. And then, rinse and family gathered at her parents home. Detective was there as well and he learned something about the couple that would send the investigation down another path. And threats of this investigation takes you into the swinger lifestyle. What has been going on with Michel And wendy in this Club Scene two marks after i am informed of this, that wendy was a part of a Swingers Club , a place called the Miami Velvet in the south miami, the first thing i did was i called michel. He did admit to having encounters with other couples there. Now you have to wonder if someone had a thing that developed about wendy, and is that person The Killer . It turns out, The Club was within a mile and a half of the scene. So, i wanted to explore that. A Swingers Club was cooperative and detectives took dna samples from a few employees and members. They would have to wait for the results. In the meantime, the investigation was turning up a new lead. A former girlfriend of Michel S. Her name, yolanda surreal. This is the person that had a relationship with michel before he met the victim. According to her, michel left her for wendy. She loved Michel Escoto, she was very much in love with him. A single mother, was she also a woman scorned to Mark Michel left her six months earlier, and to add insult to injury, asked her to watch his dog while he was on his honeymoon with wendy. To to the extent of taking care of Somebodys Dog during their honeymoon, as a woman it is very strange to me. Does yolanda become a suspect . A woman that feels she was cashiered, fired because of this younger woman, nobody gets away with that. A lot of bad if you ask ramon santa cruz. She was very evasive. Her apartment was always dirty. She was never a good person to begin with. Detectives met with yolanda cerrillo, who freely admitted she had been devastated michel dumped her, but she had no idea who beat his wife to death. She said she did not know anything about it. Detectives noticed something else about yolanda. She lived a few minutes from the Parking Lot where they found wendy. When you start adding all the little things together, her proximity to the crime scene, im very interested in yolanda cerrillo. No one knew yet what yolanda was hiding. That would come later. Some so with the revelation of a motive that seemed to explain every violent little thing. Coming up, 1 Million reasons why someone wanted wendy dead. I asked him how much is the Life Insurance Policy . When dateline continues. Air wick. Every year millions of noses are ghosted by their plugins. New Air Wick advanced. Our groundbreaking plugin that Pulses Scent for staying power, up to 60 days. Plus a fragrance boost button. Our noses wont be ignored again. With the Freestyle Libre 3 system know your glucose levels. No fingersticks needed. All with the worlds smallest and thinnest sensor. Manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c. Try it for free at freestylelibre. Us looking for a smarter way to mop . Try the swiffer powermop. An allinone cleaning tool, with a 360degree Swivel Head that goes places a regular mop just cant. Mop smarter with the swiffer powermop. Who would want to murder pretty Wendy Trapaga . Did her killer meet her at the Sexual Swapping Club that her boyfriend, Michel Escoto took her to . The cops ran down those leads in the Swingers Club. Went nowhere. What about yolanda, the husbands exgirlfriend, enraged, perhaps, to be traded in for wendy, the younger model. Detectives fill dirt that Yolanda Way more, but if so, how to cracker . And then, there was the husband himself. They kept going back to their notes from their 14 Hour Interview with him. At times, it had been pulling teeth. Once we asked them over and over again, is there anybody with a motive, anything, anything at all you can tell us . And i bring up the point, dont you have a Life Insurance Policy . And he says, yeah, we do. A hefty one it would seem to a hefty 21yearold Woman he was not married to at the time of purchase. I asked him, how much is the Life Insurance Policy . And he said, 1 Million. He said, million dollars, and i said, you dont think that is important to tell us . And he said, no, i dont. I have A Milliondollar Life Insurance Policy on myself too. And i said, thats not in question because you are here, youre alive. One thing Michel Escoto did reveal, Wendy Wasnt pregnant. He said that was the cause of the argument that night. He said that wendy lied about the whole thing. Michel shutdown. Will you take a polygraph . No. Can we photograph the bruises on your arm . No. Take a Dna Swab . Again, no. He didnt talk himself off your Suspect List . He did not. He bashed in her skull with a billiondollar insurance payout. A Tire Iron was missing from her car, eight likely weapon, but nowhere to be found. Two go to the State Attorney Prosecutor and say, weve got it, lets get a grand jury. No. Its not that easy. Youve got to prove it. So the police let their person of interest go. In the meantime, Wendys Family had huge suspicions about michel. Sister, rita, was not crazy about him from the moment she met him. Calling that energy, i should thats Head Hand and i was wiping it right after i let it go. The revelation he bought A Milliondollar policy on wendy only confirmed their belief that hed killed her. Two months after wendys death, Michel File for his beneficiary payout. Her murder would remain unsolved for a long time. We would be frustrated the family of the victim, we were sitting there waiting, and waiting. And then michel did something bold. He actually sued the Insurance Company to pay him his 1 Million. With a guilty man be so reason to try that . Absolutely, the family said. By then, theyd had enough. The family got a lawyer, and together, they went after Michel Escoto. We believed he was The Killer. Two years after the murder, the family filed a wrongful Death Lawsuit against michel. Metlife put the Insura