Miami—Police have arrested a man in the fatal shooting of a Miami jeweler 33 years ago.
Omar Roy, 72, was arrested July 30 on a first-degree murder charge in connection to the May 6, 1992, killing of jeweler Dionisio Carlos Valladares, according to a local NBC report.
According to the NBC report, on the day of the murder, an employee of Valladares’ store, Zamora Jewelry Store, had been unable to reach Valladares and went to the store to check on him.
Upon arrival, the employee found Valladares in the rear workshop, lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to the head.
The jeweler was pronounced dead at the scene. Valladares was one of 37 jewelers killed while on the job in 1992, according to the Jewelers’ Security Alliance.
Investigators stated jewelry had been stolen from a broken display case, and said they found Roy’s fingerprints on a telephone and on a piece of a broken mirror, said the NBC report.
On May 15, 1992, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested Roy for fleeing or attempting to elude police, resisting an officer without violence and obstructing by disguise, according to the arrest affidavit obtained by NBC.
(National Jeweler submitted an open records request for the arrest affidavit, but it was not granted by press time.)
After searching the vehicle, authorities reportedly found gold jewelry hidden in a diaper inside of a brown bag.
The jewelry was later determined to have been stolen from Valladares’ store, leading to additional charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen property.
According to the NBC report, in July 1992, Roy was serving time in Detroit in an unrelated case.
When a Miami Police homicide detective interviewed him about the May 6 murder, he said an unknown person entered the store and shot Valladares while he hid.
The case was reopened in August 2014 after investigators learned Valladares had been seen with Roy at a coffee shop next door to the jewelry store.
This May, a new lead detective was assigned to the cold case and, upon review, said there were inconsistencies in Roy’s previous testimony, according to the NBC report.
The affidavit states that when Roy was taken into custody last week, he again gave inconsistent statements and confessed that he had lied to investigators in past interviews.
Judge Mindy Glazer ordered Roy be held without bond, and he was set to appear before a division judge on Aug. 1.
His next hearing date is Aug. 20, according to information on the Miami-Dade County website.
Roy has pleaded not guilty in the case.