Luis Toledo Sentencing

Luis Toledo, a former Latin Kings gang-member, was accused of killing wife Yessenia Suarez and her two children.

Toledo, 35, was charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of Yessenia Suarez, 28, and two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of her children, Michael Otto, 8, and Thalia Otto, 9.

Their bodies were never found.

He could have received the death penalty as the first-degree murder counts are punishable by death but the jury recommended life without parole.

Michael Otto is the father of the two children Toledo is accused of killing.

The family vanished  Suarez and her two children vanished from their home in Deltona after Toledo and Suarez had an argument at her work. Their bodies have not been found, but deputies have presumed them to be dead.

Toledo has admitted to killing his wife, but denied killing her children.

Toledo also faces charges of tampering with evidence after deputies reported finding traces of what appeared to be blood in Toledo’s home and noticed it had been thoroughly cleaned.

In the time leading up to the family’s disappearance, Toledo had discovered that Suarez was having an affair with Kevin Dredden, a co-worker at American K-9 Detection Services in Lake Mary. On Oct. 22, 2013, Toledo stormed into Suarez’s workplace and slapped her, according to reports.

A key witness in the case against Toledo was his neighbor, Tyshawn Jackson. Toledo asked Jackson to follow him when Toledo drove his wife’s car to a shopping center in Lake Mary after investigators said Toledo killed the woman and children.

Toledo has admitted to killing his wife by striking her in the throat during a confrontation in the house. But Toledo has blamed Jackson for the murders of the children.

The United States Supreme Court declared Florida’s death penalty law unconstitutional in January 2016 because it gives more power to the judges and not to the juries.

On March 13, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a law which requires a unanimous jury decision for the death penalty to be imposed.

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