By james art HIALEAH GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) – The FBI has made an arrest in connection with the 2016 disappearance of a Doral mother and her young daughter, authorities confirmed Tuesday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida is expected to release more details, including information about the suspect’s initial court appearance.
The case that gained national attention began on May 30, 2016, when Liliana Moreno and her 9-year-old daughter, Daniela, disappeared after they were last seen near the Home Depot in Hialeah Gardens.
Since then, Moreno’s family has made repeated appeals for answers, urging the public to come forward with any information.
“The last time we talked to her, my sister and my niece was on May 30, it was Memorial Day,” Eduardo Moreno, Liliana’s brother, said in 2021.
Authorities named Daniela’s father, Gustavo Castano, as a person of interest early in the investigation.
According to Castaño, he told family members that he got into an argument with Moreno and her daughter and kicked them both out of their car along the freeway at Okeechobee Road.
Police then suspected foul play in the disappearance of the mother and daughter and named Castano as a person of interest after they found him stabbing himself in a Hialeah Gardens parking lot.
During a police encounter, he lost his eye after being moderated with an electronic electromagnet.
Days after their disappearance, investigators recovered evidence from a warehouse Castano used, but did not press charges against him or anyone else until this recent arrest.
The suspect is expected to appear in federal court at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
A reward of up to $25,000 remains available for information leading to the whereabouts of Moreno and her daughter.
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