During a stop in Orlando on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed a murder case in Osceola County that has the Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney Aramis Ayala at odds with one another.
The governor was contacted about the feud over the handling of the investigation into the slaying of Nicole Montalvo. Ayala said her office did not have enough evidence to file charges against Montalvo’s estranged husband and his father, but the Sheriff’s Office disagreed and went to the attorney general’s office.
Ayala said that DNA and other evidence doesn’t show who killed Montalvo, but Sheriff Russ Gibson believes there was enough to move forward with the arrests of Christopher Otero-Rivera and Angel Rivera.
Deputies say Montalvo’s body was found buried on property owned by the Rivera family.
DeSantis said he was not ready to make a decision on whether the case should be handled by another state attorney or if it should remain where it is. He didn’t offer a timetable or say whether he would move the case out of the 9th Circuit.
Both sides said they are moving forward in an effort to prosecute but didn’t make it clear what will happen next.
DeSantis said he has been in contact with Montalvo’s brothers but did not comment on what they discussed.
“I’m not getting involved in feuds,” DeSantis said. “(I’m) not trying to get involved in any political tit-for-tat at all. I personally don’t know the major players ... certainly don’t have any meaningful relationships, so we’re just approaching it from the position of the substance of it.”
The governor was in town to discuss school safety.
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