A female carjacking victim whose body was found in a burnt-out vehicle last year was killed as she helped her husband in a massive drug money laundering scheme, according to officials.
Last April, Katherine Aguasvivas, 41, was stopped at an intersection near Winter Springs when a man approached her, got into her vehicle and kidnapped her. Footage of the incident was caught on camera.
A few hours later, Aguasvivas was found inside her burning car, which had been parked at a construction site in Boggy Creek in Osceola County.
Authorities later determined that the woman had been specifically targeted and several people have since been indicted in connection with her death.
According to News 6, Aguasvivas had driven up from her home in Homestead to Seminole County to collect $170,000 in drug money from Giovany Crespo Hernandez.
As the woman headed home, the man and two accomplices, Jordanish Torres Garcia and Kevin Ocasio Justiniano, allegedly conspired to kill and rob her.
According to court records obtained by the outlet, the woman had planned to deliver the funds to her husband, Miguel Aguasvivas, who had been involved in money laundering operations between 2021 and the time of her death.
The man operated as a money courier and would pick up proceeds in Central Florida and drive them to a person he thought was a money launderer, but was actually an undercover DEA agent. The launderer was supposed to convert the funds into cryptocurrency, cops said.
Officials thought Miguel Aguasvivas or an accomplice would make one of the trips the day his wife died, but the trip was later cancelled. The agency had been investigating the man as part of a wider money laundering ring probe that sent cryptocurrency to a Colombian drug cartel.
The couple had been separated at the time of Katherine Aguasvivas’ death, but the husband allowed her to make the trips as a way of supporting herself. She reportedly made $1,000 per trip, which helped her pay rent.
In her time working for her husband, she allegedly made over 10 trips to the Orlando area to recover drug money.
Miguel Aguasvivas was later charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence and up to a $500,000 fine under a plea deal.
He’s due to appear in federal court Friday, at which point a judge will decide whether or not to accept the deal.