A man who killed a woman at her home and gambled at a casino after the deed was sent to death row – for a second time.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Nushin Sayfie ruled on Friday, July 24, that an inmate by the name of Rafael Andres ought to be sent back to death row.
The man, now 61, avoided capital punishment once, but his story begins decades before.
Back in 2005, he had killed a waitress at La Carreta near Miami International Airport in Florida. The victim was identified as Yvette Farinas, and the man was sentenced to death.
However, the Florida Supreme Court overturned the ruling by enacting changes to the state’s death penalty law in 2018, and a new sentencing proceeding took place, with Andres found guilty once again, and the same penalty delivered for a second time – death row.
The second sentencing stems from the repeated prosecution, which delved into the killing of the 41-year-old victim, which Andres tracked back to her home, broke into the premises, and subjected her to torture, killing her brutally in the end.
Andres was working as a handyman for the victim, who had entrusted him with a key, which he used to break in on August 6, 2025, and assault her.
Andres tortured the waitress until she gave up her personal identification number for her ATM card, and then stabbed her multiple times before he strangled her with a cord from a rice cooker.
He attempted to cover his tracks by setting fire to the house and headed for the Miccosukee Resort & Casino, where he gambled. He had spent more than $1,600 of the victim’s money before he began running from police.
Ultimately, he was apprehended, with enough evidence from camera footage and DNA analysis to pin the murder on the man. He went into hiding until January 2006, when his arrest took place.
He was found guilty in 2014 by a jury, with jurors recommending the death sentence. The sentence was overturned in 2018 because the burden had shifted to the jury to deliver the death sentence.
This is not the first time Andres has committed a heinous act, with the man fatally stabbing a friend of his wife back in 1988 and serving 18 months in prison.