MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A surveillance camera captured Miami Beach Police officers arresting a man accused of drugging, raping and robbing a woman who was later found dead in her hotel room.
According to sources, within the spring break chaos, officers spotted and took 21-year-old Evoire Collier into custody in the area of Ninth Street and Collins Avenue, Saturday night.
He and 24-year-old Dorian Taylor are accused of drugging, raping and robbing 24-year-old Christine Engelhardt, who was in town from Pennsylvania. Engelhardt was found dead in a room at the Albion Hotel last Thursday.
Her alleged attackers were two of the most wanted men on the city’s crowded streets before they were caught in separate locations. Taylor was arrested on Sunday on Lincoln Road, but not before, police said, he shopped at a liquor store using the victim’s credit card.
Sherbrooke Hotel owner Mitch Novick was walking near his property when tourists and spring breakers headed towards Collins Avenue from Ocean Drive, where a crowd had just been broken up.
Within the crowd, officers could be seen taking Collier into custody. Novick could also be seen taking footage of the arrest on his cellphone.
“I watched the takedown. I thought it was heroic,” Novick said. “Occasionally, I raise the camera above the hoards of people — a wall of people.”
Believing they had their suspect, police signaled for backup, and several officers rushed to the area from different directions. One officer used pepper spray to break up the masses while officers took the 21-year-old into custody.
Officers believed they had the person responsible for feeding Engelhardt drugs and walking her into her hotel room before sexually battering her and stealing her credit cards.
“She was a really good person,” Hailey Davis, Engelhardt’s friend, said. “She didn’t deserve anything like that to happen to her.”
Both suspects have been jailed and appeared in Miami-Dade bond court on Monday.
Miami Beach Police detective Luis Alsina said of Collier, “That’s the motive from the co-defendant on this case was to have sex with her multiple times, did not call for assistance or help and began to take all her items.”
Collier and Taylor face charges that include sexual battery, burglary, credit card fraud and petit theft. Both men were in South Florida from North Carolina.
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