The Deaths of Tara Rosado and Carlos Ortiz Were Brutal and Unforgiving — What Happened?

In June of 2024, recreational boaters off the coast of the Florida Keys found 65 pounds of cocaine floating in the ocean. While this sounds absolutely unhinged, it's actually not unusual for that area. A few weeks earlier, 25 kilograms of cocaine were found 100 feet underwater off Key West. The very next day, 25 more kilos were spotted on Dauphin Island, Ala. It's safe to assume drug smugglers often lose their own product.

Back in October 2015, something similar happened in Miami but this time it ended with the deaths of two people. A bale of pure cocaine was found by a fisherman with a dicey past, reported the Miami New Times. What happened to the drugs, and where is Jeremy Macauley now?

In May 2024, Macauley was once again found guilty of first-degree murder for the deaths of Tara Rosado, 26, and Carlos Ortiz, 30, reported the Keys Weekly. This was a retrial for Macauley who was previously found guilty in 2017 and was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences with an additional 30 years for robbery with a firearm.

In 2020 it was discovered that critical evidence was omitted from Macauley's first trial. Evidently, a fellow inmate confessed to another that he had executed Rosado and Ortiz. This never made it into the trial which led to the retrial. Florida Keys prosecutor Joseph Mansfield described Macauley as a "danger to the community." He also said, "We’re better off with him being in prison for the rest of his life."

The deaths of Rosado and Ortiz were labeled as two of the worst murders the Florida Keys had ever experienced. Part of it was due to the circumstances surrounding the discovery of their bodies. The Miami New Times described the scene in excruciating detail which included the fact that Rosado's own children found the bodies of their mother and her boyfriend at the time.

The children, 8-year-old Noah, 4-year-old Martha, and 3-year-old Michael, heard what they assumed was Rosado and Ortiz arguing Thursday Oct. 15, 2015 so they went back to sleep. The next morning they awoke to a gruesome sight. Both had been shot in the head. Their puppy had already left bloody footprints all over the house. Confused, they "drew two headstones, both cross-shaped," on paper then wrote "Rest in Peace, Mom and Carlos."

The children went next door and told their neighbor who followed them back to the house and confirmed what the kids already knew. Rosado and Ortiz had been killed. Rosada was a young,divorced mother of three who fell in with Ortiz, a wannabe tattoo artist with a crippling addiction. He would eventually begin selling drugs out of Rosado's house. She wanted Ortiz to quit but that was an unrealistic goal come June 2015.

That was when Macauley, a man with a troubled pass, caught 15 kilos of cocaine worth $500,000. He reached out to Ortiz in order to get some help selling the drugs. Ortiz in turn asked his friend Adrian Demblans, who also had a fair amount of drug connections, to pitch in. Soon everyone was making money and spending it almost as fast. Ortiz finally had the money to start his own tattoo shop which he was working on while also dipping into the drugs he was supposed to be selling. Unfortunately Rosado joined in.

By October 2015, Ortiz's health was fading rapidly and he was out of money and drugs. Desperate to keep both his shop and his habit going, Ortiz decided to blackmail Macauley. Ortiz had video of the fisherman proudly displaying his cocaine catch, which he threatened to send to police if Macauley didn't supply him with more drugs and cash. This led to Macauley executing the couple while Demblans was the driver. Using the text exchanges as well as tips, police were able to arrest Macauley and Demblans.