South Miami-Dade man gunned down former friends, cops say. He’s jailed

Crime admin September 25, 2026 0 Comments

South Miami-Dade man gunned down former friends, cops say. He’s jailed

A 73-year-old south Miami-Dade man is behind bars after, deputies say, he gunned down two people with whom he had business dealings that soured.

Andres Gonzalez was arrested on two charges of first-degree murder on Wednesday. He remains at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond and pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

Gonzalez was nabbed by U.S. Marshals in Puerto Rico, where he went after the June 18 killings of Esther Liontos, 58, and Roger Arredondo Gonzalez, 61, in the Redland agricultural district in southwest Miami-Dade County.On June 19, Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a house on a five-acre property on the 26000 block of Southwest 209th Ave., where they found Liontos and Arredondo Gonzalez dead.

Gonzalez was friends with them until he closed his business, Andy’s Nursery, in 2022, according to his arrest warrant.

When interviewed during the investigation, Gonzalez’s wife also gave detectives a possible motive: Liontos and Arredondo, who owned nurseries, purchased Gonzalez’s equipment and plants for $14,000 when he closed his business.

The victims, she said, still owed Gonzalez $2,000 but had stopped making payments about a year ago.

When deputies arrived to the scene, Liontos was lying on the patio, with injuries to her face and a gunshot wound to her upper back, according to the warrant. Investigators determined she had been shot multiple times in the upper torso.

First responders later found Arredondo Gonzalez in a field close by, the warrant says. He, too, had been shot in the torso as well as in the head.

Liontos’ and Arredondo Gonzalez’s phones weren’t found. As deputies tried to locate the phones, they discovered that on the evening of June 18, a blue Chevrolet Equinox drove by the scene — and, according to cellphone-location data, appeared to later travel with Liontos’ phone, the warrant states.

As police tracked down the Equinox’s whereabouts on Aug. 13, they spoke to Gonzalez’s wife, who confirmed that he was driving the Equinox on the day of the killings and left “to an unknown location for a short time before returning home.”

She also told detectives that Gonzalez said he had to go to Puerto Rico for a “family emergency,” according to the warrant. Gonzalez boarded a plane from Fort Lauderdale to Puerto Rico with a one-way ticket on June 19.

Gonzalez’s wife said she later learned that he lied but said she didn’t know whether he was involved in the murders, the warrant states.

READ MORE: Man arrested in Puerto Rico wanted in Redland double homicide, MDSO says

Cell-site data didn’t place Gonzalez’s cellphone at the scene of the murders, although deputies noted the phone was not used during that timeframe. But, according to the warrant, location data from the Equinox show the vehicle leaving Gonzalez’s house in Florida City and traveling to the scene of the murders.

When detectives searched Gonzalez’s house, they located a gun box for a .32 caliber firearm — and ammunition consistent with spent casings found at the scene. Gonzalez’s wife told detectives that he owned several firearms and always carried a small, pocket-sized firearm on him.