John Jefferson
Background: News footage from the scene where Rodolfo Fernandez was found dead on Jan. 19 (WPLG). Inset: Zsolt Zsolyomi (Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation).
A Hungarian national was accused by Florida police of targeting disabled, older men and using a fake identity to gain their trust. He’s now charged with murdering two of the men he allegedly pursued.
Zsolt Zsolyomi, 25, was arrested on Feb. 19 and held without bond after being charged with two counts of second-degree murder. According to the Miami Beach Police Department, Zsolyomi allegedly strangled Rodolfo Fernandez, 71, whose body was found in his car on Jan. 19. The medical examiner determined that he had been strangled. Police also connected Zsolyomi to the alleged murder of Carlos Villaquiran, 66, whose body was found in a Miami Beach apartment on Nov. 21, 2024.
In a press conference covered by WPLG, a local ABC affiliate, Miami Beach Police Department Chief Wayne Jones stated that Zsolyomi was “the epitome of evil. He hunts his prey, he is patient, and then he kills them.”
Court documents obtained by WPLG described interactions between Zsolyomi and Villaquiran, who police said were having a romantic relationship before the older man was found dead. In October 2024, Villaquiran reportedly sent Zsolyomi, who was using the name “Thomas Kray,” a text with a photo of himself sporting an injured eye. The text read, “I can’t believe what you did to me and what you took from me.”
Zsolyomi, after apologizing via text several times, responded by saying, “Sometimes I don’t know what to do when I’m drunk.” He had initially denied causing the injury.
Other texts between Zsolyomi and Villaquiran may have revealed that the older man had discovered that Zsolyomi was using a fake identity. Villaquiran reportedly asked Zsolyomi to return some of his belongings and threatened to file a police report if he didn’t. Villaquiran was found about one month later, strangled to death in his bathtub.
Documents revealed that Zsolyomi was allegedly caught on surveillance video going into and coming out of Villaquiran’s apartment the night the older man was believed to have died.
In the case of Fernandez, the documents stated that he was found in the driver’s seat of his vehicle, which appeared to have crashed in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. However, Fernandez was found with both front seat belts wrapped around his neck, suggesting to police that the crash scene was staged.
Police said that fingerprint evidence at the Fernandez scene was connected to Zsolyomi, but the younger man was also allegedly caught on neighborhood surveillance cameras leaving that car from the passenger side.
Zsolyomi, who was also placed on an immigration hold, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and held without bond. He is next due in court for an arraignment hearing on March 12.
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