Woman Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Friend in Coral Springs
August 12, 2024 •
Daniela Tabares and convicted murderer, Yvonne Serrano of Coral Springs.
A judge on Monday sentenced Yvonne Serrano to life in prison for murdering 21-year-old Daniela Tabares Maya in Coral Springs in 2019.
Serrano, 56, will spend a mandatory minimum of 25 years behind bars as part of the sentence issued by Broward County Circuit Judge Barbara Duffy.
A jury in June deliberated for less than three days before finding Serrano guilty of killing Maya on November 23, 2019, after an outing with friends to World of Beer in Coconut Creek. Maya was found fatally shot in her head in Serrano’s driveway at 1659 NW 100th Dr.
No motive for the killing has ever been made public.
Serrano and Maya had been part of a large group of friends who attended the same gym, Training for Warriors in Coral Springs. They went to see a movie before heading to World of Beer with the group, who were seen on video drinking and laughing at the restaurant several hours before Maya’s murder.
Maya and Serrano were last seen walking out of the restaurant, after which Maya drove them back to Serrano’s home in Maplewood Isles in Maya’s Nissan truck.
Surveillance video showed Maya’s Nissan pulling into the community around 2 a.m.
Serrano called Coral Springs Police at 5:55 a.m. and said there was a woman lying dead outside an unknown vehicle in her driveway. Serrano claimed she had first spotted the Nissan that morning as she left her house for a workout.
The killer told a police dispatcher she did not know who owned the Nissan and was not sure whether she knew the dead woman.
“Do you know that girl?” the dispatcher asked Serrano.
“I can’t tell,” Serrano said.
“You can’t tell if you know them?”
“There’s blood … She’s been here for a while.”
Police quickly grew suspicious of Serrano; they had arrived at her home to find her neither dressed in gym attire nor seemingly ready to go work out.
Serrano told investigators she had no recollection of how she got home from World of Beer.
A 9-millimeter shell casing was found outside Maya’s truck in Serrano’s driveway, and police gathered evidence showing Serrano killed Maya with a 9-millimeter Sig Sauer P365 pistol.
Serrano had a concealed carry permit and owned three handguns, including the Sig Sauer, which she told police she had taken out the previous night.
Blood was found on the Sig Sauer and its holster, police said.
Serrano was also charged with and convicted of tampering with evidence because she deleted footage from her RING doorbell camera from the time of the killing.
She has 30 days to file an appeal of her sentence.
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Author Profile
- Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.
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