Randall Cooke had made his last delivery that night as an Uber Eats driver in Holiday, a suburb of Tampa, Florida, and was hoping to return home to his wife when he was the victim of a "horrendous crime" that the county's
police
chief of Pasco, Chris Nocco, called it "diabolical" and "demonic" at a press conference held Tuesday.
Cooke's dismembered remains were found inside garbage bags and a cooler at the home of the man he had just delivered food to, Oscar Solis Jr., 30, who is accused of murdering and dismembering the delivery man on April 19. .
That afternoon, Cooke texted his wife to let her know he was close to home, packing up to return, The Washington Post reported.
Not knowing more about him, the woman reported him missing that night.
Images from a surveillance camera show how he distributed the food at Solis's house shortly after sending the message;
the next day, the camera shows Solis and another man dragging garbage bags across his property;
police later found human remains inside.
Investigators believe Solis tried to rob the driver and ended up killing him, the Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Cooke's vehicle was found a short distance away;
inside were bloody rags and towels, a bag similar to the one the victim was carrying, and a card with Solis's name on it.
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Solis is an MS-13 gang member, authorities say, with a violent past, who moved from Indiana to Florida in January and was on probation after serving four years for assault and burglary.
He now faces charges of manslaughter in a robbery, and failure to register as a convicted felon and violating his probation, according to prison records.
Solis, 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 meters) tall and 315 pounds (142 kilograms), worked as a security guard at a strip club in Florida, according to the court affidavit.
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Cooke's stepdaughter, Brittany Dzoba, told local station Fox 35 that her stepfather had moved to Pasco County a year ago to be closer to the water and enjoy retirement.
She worked at Uber Eats to achieve her dream of living by the sea.
“He was a person who was just trying to make a living for his family
,” added the sheriff, noting that Cooke's wedding ring and car keys had been found at Solis's home.
“This person killed him for no reason and took him away from his family,” he lamented, “we can never answer why.”