Two North Carolina men on spring break in Florida have been charged with drugging and raping a woman who later died, possibly of a drug overdose in Miami Beach, police said Tuesday.
The two men arrested in Miami Beach, Evoire Collier, 21, and Dorian Taylor, 24, have been charged with sexual battery as well as burglary with battery, theft and credit card fraud. The woman was found dead last Thursday after officers responded to “reports of an unconscious female” at a South Beach hotel, according to a police report. The men are accused of stealing the dead woman’s credit cards to help fund their South Beach vacation, the report says. Online jail records did not indicate whether the two had an attorney who could speak for them.
Whether the two are charged with manslaughter or murder will depend on what caused the woman’s death, which a medical examiner has not yet released. Investigators are looking into whether the woman died of a drug overdose, possibly a substance supplied by the men, who said they gave her a “green pill,” according to the arrest report.
The alleged crime comes amid continuing chaos in South Beach, where police have arrested hundreds of partiers involved in violence and property destruction. Most of those involved have not been college students on spring break, but adults from Florida and out of state, authorities have said.
South Beach was relatively calm Monday night, according to police. Since February, however, there have been over 1,000 arrests there amid brawls and damage to property. City officials imposed a curfew from Thursday through Sunday each week until April 12, including the nighttime closing of causeways leading to Miami Beach from the mainland.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, mindful of the risk of the coronavirus spreading through such large and unmasked crowds, said the city known worldwide as a tourist destination and anything-goes attitude is trying to control the situation.
“We’re trying to get a handle on it. And we’re only doing it through policing and a curfew and shutting down our causeways coming into our city in the evening,” Gelber said in a television interview. “But that’s just a temporary stop. Hopefully it will calm down in a few weeks when other places open up and this pandemic really gets into the rearview mirror, where it’s not now.”