Escape From Justice

Everyone has heard the phrase "you can run but you can't hide". Well, that is not always the case. This is a story about just such a case. The murderer has never been caught despite the best efforts of the police in two countries. He has eluded capture in both countries and remains at large. Now, nobody knows where he is and they have no leads. It is as if he has vanished off the face of the earth.

5:00 PM in Miami Florida. Shots ring out in a busy Barber shop. Dispatch receives a 911 call saying that there is a man lying in the floor who has been shot and he is bleeding to death. Two men are shot. One is transported to the hospital in critical condition. The other is dead. Miami Detective Fernando Bosch has just returned from the Florida police Olympics where he pitched his team to a gold medal. He and his team head out to the Barbershop. Detective Leo Tappanes says that according to witnesses the victim was in a Barber chair getting a haircut when two offenders grabbed the victim and pull him out of the chair and at the same time they are pulling out guns. They take him out back where the multiple gunshots were fired. The deceased victim is 23 year old Jason Valez a Father of a young Daughter. He was shot once in the face. There are 45 caliber casings next to the victim.

The surviving victim was found inside the shop, shot four times. His name is John Carmona. Detectives get a lead when they discover that the Barbershop is equipped with video cameras. They collect the video surveillance DVD from the Barber and return to Homicide. They are hoping that it will lead them to the players of the shooting. The time of the shooting is determined to be at 5:18 PM. From the surveillance they determine that one of the culprits is dark skinned with a pony tail, wearing a jersey with the number 20 on it, and the other is lighter skinned with a bald head. The two men start arguing with the man in the chair and convince him to come outside. Then shots start ringing out and everyone starts running. After the shooting the two suspects flee through the shop. It is further determined that the bald suspect is shot in the exchange.

He sits down on the bench and waits for rescue to get there. Therefore he is still in the hospital. Detectives realize that he is the injured man at the hospital, John Carmona. Until Carmona recovers, if he does, the team must rely on the video to tell them what happened. They then realize that the guy in the chair being confronted by the two suspects is not the guy who was shot in back of the shop. In fact the dead guy was not even in the Barber shop. They have no idea where he came from. So exactly did he get shot? This is all very confusing. They decide to talk to his girlfriend and find out what she knows. When brought in for questioning she is wailing and the Detectives try to calm her down. They ask her what happened today? She says "Okay, What happened was we went and picked up my Boyfriend's friend, the one that is in the hospital, John Carmona, and I took them to the Barbershop".

She then tells them they went to the Barbershop to meet a third friend named Dominacono. She doesn't know Dominacono's real name. She says he is dark skinned. She then tells them that the three men went to confront another man at the Barbershop and says he was threatened Dominacono. The Detectives ask if her boyfriend was carrying a gun and she says yes, a 45. The Detectives now believe that the victims two friends, Dominacono and Carmona confronted the unknown man in the chair while the victim waited with a gun behind the shop. The two men then forced the man in the chair out back and shots were fired leaving Valez dead. The Detectives ask the girlfriend if she knows who the guy in the Barber's chair is and she says she doesn't know. They ask her if she saw the guy leave and she says she saw a white guy who wasn't that tall and had a whole bunch of Tattoos everywhere.

They ask her if she saw a car leaving and she says yes it was a white Maxima, or something like that and that it looked brand new. The Detectives put out a Be On The Lookout (BOLO) alert for a young white male with tattoos on both arms, back, chest, and neck driving a late model white Maxima. Detective also tells patrol officers that the subject should be considered armed and dangerous. The next day, officers pull over a man fitting the mans description. They sit him down for an interrogation. Does he say "Nope, I want an attorney"? No, he makes the stupid decision to talk. His name is Jose Enrique Rosado. Detective Bosch knows that there is a chance that this might be a justifiable homicide. But Jose will have to convince Detective Bosh that he was trying to defend himself. The Detectives first tell him that he has a lot of nice tattoos to make him feel more comfortable.

They then tell him that sometimes happen in life that once it happens you can't change it, for example all those tattoos, it's done that's it. They also tell him that it's very important that he be totally honest with them. Jose replies "Yes Sir". They ask him if he has ever heard of a place on 17th Avenue and 35st. He replies "Yeah, the Barbershop". They ask him if he was there Monday. He replies "No". They ask him if he is sure and he replies "I'm sure". They tell him they are trying to put themselves in his place too and Make us understand what the F__K happened that went so bad. He says nothing. Detective Bosch tell him to look at him straight in the eye. He then tells him to help himself because right now there is a dead guy and right now he looks like a F__king murderer. He then tells Jose that you are going to sit there and tell him that you weren't there Monday. Jose responds with "Not there" .

Then Detective Bosch tells him that there were surveillance cameras there and they know he was there. Then he tells him not to be stupid. Jose then tells them "I went to the Barbershop to get his haircut, two guys come up and snatch me up from the chair, punch me in my face and try to put him through the glass window and the guy with the Jersey pulls out a gun as they are bringing me out and I don;t know what these guys are looking for or even who they are and my life flashed before my eyes because I seen them pointing a gun at my face and clicking it and I'm not going to lie, I pulled out my pistol and shoot at him and he begins to run through the Barbershop and the guy who was holding me, I turn around and I shoot him in the stomach. Once I shot him the other guy came around the corner holding the gun aimed at me and I shot at him. After that I just ran. This is just crazy.

Detective Bosch says "I can tell you this you shot the one who is dead". Jose says "I know for a fact that I was gonna be through". Sgt. Juan Herrera says he describes it pretty well. The Detectives believe Jose's story and it matches the evidence on the scene. But they still have to talk to Carmona, who is still recovering from the Hospital and Dominacono, who plays a key roll in this Homicide investigation. The next morning the suspect John Carmona has recovered enough to speak with Detectives. Is he going to be smart enough to invoke his right to silence or ask for an Attorney. Of course not! Detective Bosch tells him to tell them from the beginning what happened. He tells the Detectives "I got a phone call. There is someone out there who is trying to jump Dominacono. Carmona further says that he and Valez went to the shop to back up Dominacono.

He says "He was my friend so I was over there trying to defend him. I ask the guy what the F__k is the problem? Then Dominacono yanked him out of the Barber chair. I grabbed him by the neck and shoved him against the glass door and I opened the back door and Dominacono and Valez pulled guns and Rosado fired back". He says "He pulled a gun from his waist and shot me". Dominacono is now the key player in this Drama and Carmona gives Detectives Dominacono's address. His story backs up Rosado's story which was that the shooting was in self defense. Jose Rosado will not be charged with murder but he will be charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Carmona and Dominacono will be charged with felony murder in the death of Jason Valez. The reason is even though they are friends, he was killed during the commission of a felony, that being the armed attack on Rosado.

I'll bet he is real glad he talked to the cops now. Detective Bosch is now focused on finding Dominacono. He looks him in in the computer. He finds that he is 19 years old and has been arrested a ton of times. His real name is Joel Lantigua. He is the one who called his buddies over to confront this guy and started the whole thing. Without him the case against Carmona would have fallen apart had he not spoken to police because they need him to testify against Dominacono. The Detectives head out to find him. They go to the last address that he used. He is nowhere to be found. Joel "Dominacono" Lantigua has an open warrant for his arrest of on one count felony murder and and one count of kidnapping.The Miami police believe he has fled to the Dominican Republic where police are actively searching for him but to date they have had no luck. They are not even sure that he is in the Dominican Republic.