Man accused in 2005 Miami-Dade murder freed after prosecutors discover crucial witness died – NBC 6 South Florida

An 81-year-old man arrested last month in connection with a 2005 murder in Miami-Dade is a free man after it was discovered a crucial witness in the case had died, prosecutors said Friday.

Leomar Valdes was taken into custody at Miami International Airport and booked into the Miami-Dade jail on July 3 on a first-degree murder charge in the Nov. 24, 2005 killing of Eduardo Rojas.

But in a statement Friday, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said that while preparing for trial, it was discovered that the crucial witness in the case had died in 2021.

Without the testimony of that witness, prosecutors couldn’t proceed with the case, and Valdes was released back on Aug. 8.

According to an arrest warrant, Rojas has been with friends at the Don-Goyo Cantina at 17015 Okeechobee Road when he got into a verbal dispute with a man, later identified as Valdes.

Rojas and Valdes eventually got into a fist fight in the parking lot, before Rojas went back in the restaurant and Valdes left on his bicycle, the warrant said.

Rojas later left the restaurant and was found a short time later shot to death in the driver’s seat of his pickup truck in the area of 137th Avenue and Northwest 175th Street.

Valdes vanished after the incident, leaving most of his personal property in his trailer home, the warrant said.

The warrant was issued for his arrest on Nov. 28, 2005.

In an interview Friday, Valdes said it was a case of mistaken identity. He said someone else used his identity to commit the murder, and said he suspects someone stole some documents with his social security number from his trailer, which he left behind before retiring and moving to the Dominican Republic.

Valdes also said he had never seen Rojas in his life and that his public defender was able to prove that he was in the Dominican Republic at the time of the murder.

He said now he’s hoping to return to the Dominican Republic.