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Missing Gibsonton man found by Florida trooper, arrested on homicide warrant

Miguel Felix Hernandez, 45, is a suspect in a deadly double shooting Thursday night in a gated Doral community.
 
Miguel Felix Hernandez, 45, was arrested in Columbia County on Friday after Florida Highway Patrol troopers spotted him running along the shoulder of Interstate 10. Hernandez is wanted on a Miami-Dade warrant for first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder.
Miguel Felix Hernandez, 45, was arrested in Columbia County on Friday after Florida Highway Patrol troopers spotted him running along the shoulder of Interstate 10. Hernandez is wanted on a Miami-Dade warrant for first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder. [ Columbia County Sheriff's Office ]
Published Oct. 30, 2021|Updated Oct. 31, 2021

LAKE CITY — Initially, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office had deemed the missing Gibsonton man an “endangered person.” The agency authored media alerts and bulletins saying he left home Thursday night after threatening self-harm and could be traveling to Fort Myers.

But less than an hour after the Friday morning alert went out, it was rescinded with little fanfare. Miguel Felix Hernandez, 45, had not only been found by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper in Columbia County but also was taken into custody on a Miami-Dade arrest warrant on murder and attempted murder charges.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a trooper was heading to an early training session on Friday, driving westbound on Interstate 10 near Lake City, when he saw a man running down the shoulder in the opposite direction, flashlight in hand, around 6:30 a.m.

A short distance up the road, the trooper noticed a blue Mini Cooper had been abandoned on the grassy shoulder with its hazard lights blinking. The trooper pulled off the road and flagged Hernandez over to see if he needed help, Hernandez’s Columbia County arrest report states.

The trooper asked if the man needed any help with his car, but noted that Hernandez seemed “extremely erratic” during their conversation, the arrest report states. The trooper ran a quick background check on Hernandez’s driver’s license and found the Hillsborough County sheriff’s alert saying he was reported missing from his Gibsonton home late Thursday after making “threats of violence and self harm.”

The trooper then drove Hernandez back to the Mini Cooper and learned that the license plate number on the vehicle linked back to a homicide investigation in the Miami-Dade city of Doral, according to the arrest report.

Hernandez was taken into custody, along with his vehicle and two cellphones deemed to be evidence. He was booked into the Columbia County jail on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder, and he will be extradited to Miami-Dade, his arrest affidavit said.

Investigators there suspect Hernandez was the man responsible for the shooting death of a 58-year-old woman Thursday night at a home in the 8600 block of Northwest 98th Avenue in Grand Bay Estates, a gated neighborhood in Doral.

The woman didn’t live there, Hernandez’s arrest report said. Instead, she came with a handyman, believed to be in his 40s, who was hired to work on the house. Around 8:40 p.m., investigators said, a man they believe was Hernandez knocked on the front door of the home and asked the homeowners for the woman by name.

When she came to the door, the two quickly launched into a heated argument until, detectives say, Hernandez shot and killed her. According to his arrest warrant, Hernandez then entered the home and, when he found the handyman, shot him, too, and then left. The homeowners were not injured.

According to the arrest warrant, the unnamed woman died from her injuries before Miami-Dade Fire Rescue could reach the house. The handyman was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he remains in critical condition, police said.

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In a statement on the case, the Miami-Dade Police Department said investigators still aren’t sure how Hernandez got into the neighborhood or what relationship he shared with the handyman or the woman.

Anyone with information that can help with this investigation is asked to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-4718477.