Evoire Collier and Dorian Taylor, two North Carolina men, have been arrested after a woman, who was identified as Christine Englehardt, was found dead in a hotel room amid spring break partying in Miami as police crack down on revelers with an 8 p.m. curfew.
The 24-year-old woman, from Bucks County in Philadelphia, was found dead in a room at the Albion Hotel in Miami on Thursday last week after she was seen on surveillance footage being brought inside the hotel by two men.
Collier, 21, and Taylor, 24, had seemingly traveled to Miami along with thousands of other party-goers who have descended on the city in recent weeks.
They were both arrested on suspicion of giving the victim drugs and then raping her. They were also suspected to have used the victim’s credit cards after stealing them along with her phone and money, which she had left in the room.
Evoire Collier was arrested later the following day after the victim’s body was found in the hotel room and police matched the description of one of the men seen on the video footage from the night before.
Collier and Taylor were believed to be seen in the footage with the victim, who was unconscious at the time and being held up to prevent her from falling.
In the hearing, which took place in Miami on Monday, March 22, a report alleged that both defendants had had sexual intercourse with the victim while she was unconscious and under the influence of drugs and alcohol, which would have made it impossible for her to give consent.
Englehardt was an upbeat pizza shop manager and a dog lover. Hailey Davis, a friend of the victim, told local media: “To think that someone would do this to her, she was young too. She had her whole life still to do things, and she had dreams and goals and all these things she’ll never be able to do now because of them.”
According to the police reports, Collier allegedly confessed that he and Taylor had met the victim at a restaurant in Miami and had given her drugs, believed to be strong painkillers Percocet.
Collier and Taylor are being held in a Miami-Dade jail and will appear before a court again in three weeks. The suspects, who are from Greensboro, were charged with burglary, battery, and sexual battery.
Authorities are still waiting for an official cause of death, and depending on the coroner’s report, the two men could face murder charges.
