Two North Carolina springbreakers have been arrested and accused of drugging, raping and stealing a woman who later died at a hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, authorities said Monday.
The men, Evoire Collier (21) and Dorian Taylor (24), are facing charges of sexual battery, housebreaking and other crimes, the court report shows. They remain in custody; a mortgage amount was not listed Monday night.
Miami Beach officials are struggling to deal with waves of beachgoers who have been flocking to the area since last month. There have been more than 1,000 arrests since February, and on Sunday the city imposed a new curfew and other restrictions that could last until mid-April.
Referring to police reports, NBC Miami reported that Collier and Taylor were spotted with a 24-year-old woman on video entering the Albion Hotel on Thursday. Half an hour later, Collier and Taylor left without the woman and were later stopped and arrested.
During a mortgage hearing on Monday, a prosecutor said the woman was so drunk when she entered the hotel that she would not be able to give permission. It was not immediately clear when or why the woman died.
District Judge Mindy Glazer said one of the accused admitted to giving the woman a green pill with the characters ‘a30’, but that it was not clear what was in the pill and that the report on toxicology was still pending.
Authorities have accused Collier and Taylor of using credit cards that the woman stole after leaving the hotel, reports NBC Miami.
A family member told the station that the woman had traveled to the area alone.
Lawyers for the men did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A woman who considered herself Collier’s older sister and guardian said during the mortgage hearing that he had never been in trouble and that she was ‘confused’ about the charges.
“I can testify to his character,” she said. “Please let my brother come home.”