Miami-Dade Police – NBC 6 South Florida
A South Florida man is accused of using the food stamps card of a woman who went missing and was eventually found dead in a marsh area of the Everglades.
Christina Trudeau, 38, disappeared in mid-December of 2021, investigators said. Her decomposing body was later discovered the day after Christmas in the area of SW 328th Street and 227 Avenue.
While Trudeau was missing, her mother saw someone had made multiple transactions on her food stamps card, police said.
So her parents went to the locations where the charges were made and spoke to managers at the store, investigators said, and they eventually saw the card being used by 41-year-old Jonathan Montalvo.
Miami-Dade Corrections Jonathan Montalvo
Investigators say Trudeau had gone to visit Montalvo with another friend before she disappeared. They did not give details of the relationship between the two.
Investigators believe Trudeau was already dead at the time her card was being used because of her body’s state of decomposition.
Montalvo was arrested Thursday and appeared in Miami-Dade bond court Friday, facing fraud charges for allegedly using Trudeau’s card.
He has not been charged in connection with Trudeau’s death.
A judge found probable cause Friday and set Montalvo’s bond to $5,000.
