Florida man Gustavo Alfonso Castano Restrepo was arrested in the 2016 disappearance of Liliana Moreno and her daughter Daniella

Almost a decade after Liliana Moreno and her 8-year-old daughter Daniella disappeared from the Miami area, federal investigators say they have arrested a man in the case: the girl’s father.

Gustavo Alfonso Castano Restrepo, 55, of Miami, was arrested Monday, days after he was charged in federal court with kidnapping resulting in death in connection with the 2016 disappearances of Liliana and Daniella, according to court documents.

But much of the case remains a mystery to the public and Liliana’s family: Although the two-page indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Miami includes a single charge against Liliana — accusing her of kidnapping the then-42-year-old — Liliana is accused of kidnapping the kidnapping. He claims that it caused him to kill. the deaths of both Liliana and the child. Authorities have released few details, including why investigators believe they died, how the kidnapping occurred, what led them to arrest Castano and whether they know why.

Liliana’s brother, Eduardo Moreno, told CNN this week that the indictment’s claim that Liliana and Daniella were dead “is not what we want to see.”

“We, as a family, are trying to find out what happened,” he told CNN by phone.

The mother and daughter, who live in Doral, just northwest of Miami, were last seen at or near a Home Depot near Hialeah on May 30, 2016, according to the FBI.

Eduardo Moreno told CNN that although Castano was Daniella’s father, he “was never involved in Daniella’s life.”

Liliana and Castano also knew each other through their careers, her brother said. According to the Miami Herald newspaper, Liliana was an architect and Castano was in the construction business and they often worked together.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the southern district of Florida announced the charge Tuesday. Castano remained in custody following a hearing before a federal magistrate judge that day, the office said.

Court documents and the office’s news release do not specify whether investigators found Liliana or Daniella dead. The indictment alleges that Castano kidnapped Liliana, held her “for reward or other purposes,” and used “a cell phone, the Internet, a motor vehicle, and the Homestead Extension of the Florida Turnpike” while committing the crime.

“It is alleged that the kidnapping incident in question resulted in the deaths of both Liliana and Daniella Moreno,” the indictment states, without going into detail.

The FBI, one of the agencies investigating the incident according to prosecutors, cannot discuss ongoing investigations like this, spokesman Jim Marshall said, pointing to court documents and the U.S. attorney’s news release as available information. Another agency involved in the incident, the Miami-Dade Police Department, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

CNN contacted the US attorney’s office with questions about the case but did not immediately receive a response.

Castano’s attorney, Phil Reizenstein, told CNN on Friday that he is being held in the case and needs time to research, prepare and put together a bail offer. He said his office plans to request a pretrial detention hearing Wednesday.

If convicted, Castano faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison, the US attorney’s office said in a statement. The maximum penalty would be death, the office said.

don’t disappear

Speaking to CNN, Eduardo said he had spoken to his sister on the phone less than an hour before leaving his home on May 30, 2016. He did not say why he left the house, but added that Liliana’s intention was to stay home for most of the day.

That day was also the birthday of their sister Carolina, who lives in Colombia with the rest of the Moreno family.

“They were always calling her (Carolina) for her birthday,” Eduardo said. But Liliana and Daniella did not call Carolina that Monday.

That’s when his family started to worry.

Eduardo, who was in Colombia at the time, said that on the morning of May 31, the family received a call from Castano asking if they had heard from Liliana. Eduardo said that during the meeting, Castano hesitated about whether he had last seen Liliana on May 30 or a few days before.

Concerned about his sister’s whereabouts, Eduardo said Liliana asked a friend who lived in Doral to check his sister’s house to see if she was there.

“We assumed Liliana’s car wasn’t at her house because Gustavo told us that he looked for Liliana’s car but it wasn’t there,” Eduardo said. However, Liliana’s friend said that her car was parked where it was always parked and that no one was home.

Eduardo then decided to involve the police.

Police reported that at Liliana’s home, they saw her car in the driveway, her food on the stove, and also found her wallet, CNN affiliate WPLG reported.

The FBI’s missing persons poster for the mother and child states that they were “allegedly last seen at or near the Home Depot located at 13895 Okeechobee Road in Hialeah, Florida.” According to WPLG, Castano told police that Liliana asked for a ride to the Florida Turnpike at Okeechobee Road, an intersection very close to Home Depot for her and her daughter.

“We want to know what happened,” Eduardo Moreno told CNN. “If something happens to my sister Liliana, where is Daniella?”

“In this case it’s more about finding out what happened or at least trying to bring them back,” he said.

CNN’s Amanda Musa contributed to this report.

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