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Miami cops are dealing with a rash of floating corpses this week, after two dead bodies washed up today — one in Peacock Park this morning, and another this afternoon in Tamiami Canal.
Detectives were already trying to solve the case of Ernesto Puentes, a 45-year-old found floating beneath the Rickenbacker Causeway on Monday.
A passerby spotted the latest corpse just before 3:30 this afternoon, floating in the canal near 6621 Tamiami Canal Road, just south of the Dolphin Expressway near the Palmetto.
Another body washed up at 6:30 this morning in the waterway that runs behind Coconut Grove’s Peacock Park.
Police still haven’t identified either man. They’re investigating the case near Peacock Park as a homicide, says Det. William Moreno, a spokesman for the Miami PD.
On Monday, another corpse bobbed to the surface underneath the Rickenbacker Causeway’s William Powell Bridge a little after 9:30 in the morning.
The victim, Puentes, had a long criminal record dating back more than a decade.
“We don’t have reason to believe there’s any connection between the … cases,” Moreno tells Riptide.
Puentes was first charged with a felony in 1992, when he was accused of threatening a public servant. That case was dropped.
The next year, felony charges of grand theft auto were also dropped. But in 1995, Puentes was hit with five felony charges of robbery, kidnapping and armed burglary and convicted on all counts. In 1997, he was back in court on charges of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
And then in 2006, police again charged Puentes with grand theft auto. According to Riptide’s records search, no court action was taken on that case.
Anyone with information about either case should call the police at 305-471-TIPS.
