Publisher's Synopsis
On January 6, 1995, a body was found in a dumpster behind a shopping center in Willingboro, New Jersey. The body had been burned beyond recognition, and it would take a year before identification was made.
It was sixty-eight-year-old, Fundador Otero, a man who had been reported missing from Wilmington, Delaware.
Luis Reyes, who was 17 at the time of the murder, gave a very detailed confession that named Cabrera as the mastermind and the one who murdered Otero. Cabrera had told Reyes that Otero had "Did his dad dirty." The only way to rectify the matter was to kill Otero. In Luis Reyes' confession, he stated that Otero had been badly beaten and shot before driving his lifeless body to a mall in New Jersey. This is where they disposed of him in a dumpster before setting it on fire. It was an attempt to conceal the identification of Otero, and destroy any evidence that connected the men to the murder. Both men were subsequently tried and convicted of the murder of Otero and received life sentences. While in prison, evidence connected Cabrera and Reyes to the unsolved double murder of eighteen-year-old Vaughn Rowe and nineteen-year-old, Brandon Saunders, both of Wilmington, Delaware. On January 21, 1996, a pedestrian discovered the bodies of Brandon Saunders and Vaughn Rowe in a local park. Both victims had been shot execution-style in the back of the head. But, only Rowe that had been beaten before his death. After the murders, they were dragged into the woods and covered with a bed sheet. Police questioned Reyes first, because of his willingness to cooperate with authorities. Once again, Reyes gave a detailed confession of the murders - naming Cabrera as the mastermind and the one who killed both Rowe and Saunders. There was never an explanation given for the murders. Cabrera would later call the murders of all the men, 'the ultimate rush'.
Subsequently, both men were tried and convicted of the murder and sentenced to death.
But, this is not where the story ends. There was another victim that was not mentioned in the trials. It was that of Shelly Morrison, a woman that Cabrera had once dated for two years. In those two years, she had endured unspeakable physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of Cabrera.. After being raped and beaten by Cabrera, Shelly learns she is pregnant and quickly flees Delaware and places the child up for adoption. When she returned to Delaware for a family funeral, Cabrera seized that opportunity. He stalked Shelly before kidnapping and assaulting her. It would be the last beating that she would receive from him, as he was caught in the act by local law enforcement. Cabrera was convicted of the crimes against Shelly and received an unbelievably light sentence of only five years for his crimes.
While Shelly was disappointed at the sentence he received, she was relieved that part of her nightmare was over. She would never have to endure the terror and abuse that Cabrera had inflicted on her for years. She could finally go through the process of healing from the emotional and physical wounds. In 2011, those wounds would be reopened when Michelle Young ibegan a search for her birth parents. Michelle is able to locate Shelly and is horrified to learn the truth about not only her conception but her birth father.
The two women began a journey together and have provided a narrative account of their lives, both before and after Cabrera.
This is the shocking true story of Luis Cabrera, a man who destroyed everything he touched.
