‘He is the epitome of evil. He hunts his prey. He’s patient with his prey, and then he kills them. There’s no doubt in my mind, had he not been caught, he would have done this again and again and again.’
The above were the words of Miami Beach Police (MBPD) Chief Wayne Jones describing Zsolt Zsólyomi, the 26-year-old Hungarian national charged with the second-degree murder of two elderly men in Miami.
MBPD arrested Zsólyomi on 21 February following a months-long investigation into two strikingly similar homicide cases. During a press conference after the arrest, Wayne Jones recalled that on 21 November 2024, officers responded to a death investigation at 1010 Pennsylvania Avenue. The victim, identified as 66-year-old Carlos Alonso Villaquiran, was later determined to have been murdered.
Then, on 19 January, MBPD officers launched another investigation after finding 71-year-old Rodolfo Fernandez de Velasco dead in his vehicle, with the driver’s side seat belt tightly fastened around his neck. Both victims were homosexual.
Police believe Zsólyomi attempted to stage both murders to appear as accidents. The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner determined that both men were strangled. Zsólyomi was taken into custody on 19 February, where he remains while awaiting trial. However, his future looks grim.
A New Law With a ‘Deadly’ Provision
According to local media reports, he may be the first person to face the death penalty in Florida under a new law introduced at the beginning of this year. The legislation, part of Governor Ron DeSantis’s broader crackdown on immigration, mandates the automatic imposition of the death penalty for ‘unauthorized aliens’ convicted of a capital offence. DeSantis signed the bill into law on 13 February.
Zsólyomi arrived in the United States in 2022 on a three-month visa, which had long expired. He first came onto Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) radar in July 2024 after having been arrested for strong-arm robbery.
‘The legislation mandates the automatic imposition of the death penalty for “unauthorized aliens” convicted of a capital offence’
Although the charge was dropped, Zsólyomi was transferred to ICE custody in September for deportation proceedings. He was later released under an agency programme allowing certain detainees to remain free while awaiting deportation after undergoing a risk assessment.
However, he quickly removed the GPS ankle monitor ICE had placed on him, altered his hairstyle and facial hair, and rented an apartment near Miami Beach under the false identity of Thomas Kray. Police believe he committed his crimes under this alias.
Long History of Crimes
Zsólyomi’s history is marked by confrontations with authorities and repeated attempts to evade law enforcement. Born in 1999 in the village of Pánd, Pest County, he came from what locals describe as a ‘loving family’, though early on, it was evident that ‘something was wrong with him’. At just 23 he was already wanted by Hungarian authorities, who issued an arrest warrant for him in November 2022 on charges of fraud, vandalism, assault, and theft. By then, however, he had already fled to the United States.
Speaking to Index, Zsólyomi’s mother expressed devastation upon learning of his crimes. ‘I only ask one thing from fate—I would like to see him again. I’m his mother, maybe that’s all I deserve…I would like to get to him, look him in the eye, say goodbye to him, and I’m seeking legal help to make that possible,’ she pleaded.
‘His actions have also cast a shadow over the Hungarian community in the United States’
His actions have also cast a shadow over the Hungarian community in the United States. András Fekete, a hotel manager and American citizen who has lived in the US for 20 years, stated that Zsólyomi had disgraced their entire community. ‘The Hungarian colony in Florida is tight-knit,’ he told Daily News Hungary.
On 12 March Zsólyomi’s attorney Arthur McNeil entered a not guilty plea during a brief court hearing, which the defendant did not attend. A tentative trial date has been set for 12 May. Under the new law, he could face execution by lethal injection, with the best-case scenario—though highly unlikely—being life in prison.
Related articles:
