A fifth suspect has been arrested in connection with a Molotov cocktail attack at a Miami-Dade family’s home last year that left a teen severely burned, records showed.
Daniel Valencia, 37, was arrested Tuesday on charges including seven counts of attempted murder, arson, arson conspiracy and shooting or throwing a deadly missile, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
Valencia, of Cutler Bay, was arrested at Miami International Airport in connection with the March 25, 2025 incident that happened at a home in the 27000 block of Southwest 143rd Place, an arrest warrant said.
Two other men, 36-year-old Yang L. Chiong and 32-year-old Ricardo Alberto Munoz Manriquez, were arrested in December, also on seven counts of attempted murder and arson charges.
Miami-Dade CorrectionsMiami-Dade Corrections
Yang L. Chiong, Ricardo Alberto Munoz Manriquez, Daniel Valencia
And last month, two suspects, 34-year-old Rosita Ashlee Villarreal and 19-year-old Adrien Perez, were arrested on arson conspiracy charges, records showed.
According to the warrant, a family member said he was in his bedroom when he heard breaking glass and what sounded like an explosion before he heard his niece screaming.
He said he found his 16-year-old niece and parts of the living room engulfed in flames, while two nephews who were in the room weren’t injured.
Other family members extinguished the flames and the victim was taken outside and extinguished with a hose.
She was driven by her father to Homestead Hospital and then airlifted to HCA Kendall Hospital’s Burn Unit with burns on about 45% of her body, the warrant said.
A family dog was also injured, and the uncle suffered blisters on his hand and leg while trying to extinguish the flames on his niece.
Multiple children including a 2-year-old were in the home at the time but weren’t injured, the warrant said.
Inside the house were pieces of glass from a mason-type jar with a partially burnt wick in the lid, along with a hole in a window.
A teenage girl is in the intensive care unit after a Molotov cocktail was thrown into a Southwest Miami-Dade home on Tuesday night. NBC6’s Laura Rodriguez reports
The victim’s cousin told investigators she was in a tumultuous relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Chiong, and the two have a child together, an arrest report said.
She said Chiong had been arrested for domestic violence in Miami-Dade and has another domestic abuse case in Monroe County, and said she believed the attack on her family happened because he’s upset she wouldn’t drop the criminal charges against him, the report said.
The attack was captured by a camera from a nearby home and the footage showed a suspect in dark clothing arrive in a white vehicle and throw a flaming object through the home’s window followed by a “sudden large burst of fire,” the report said.
Investigators were able to track down where the jar was purchased and the person who purchased it, Perez, who is Chiong’s nephew, the report said.
According to an arrest warrant, investigators spoke with Munoz Manriquez, who had been arrested in April on unrelated criminal charges and was being held at the Metro West Detention Facility on an immigration hold.
Munoz Manriquez said he had known Chiong for about a year but denied having any knowledge of the Molotov cocktail incident, the warrant said.
But investigators found text messages between Chiong and Munoz Manriquez the day before the attack, the warrant said.
“I know you got pressure in your chest to release but you can’t get caught and involved even tho you want them to know who did it,” one message read, according to the warrant.
Investigators also obtained cell phone records that showed Munoz Manriquez’s phone was in the area of the victim’s home, the warrant said.
The warrant said phone records showed Valencia’s phone was at the victim’s home the same day he’d been contacted by Chiong.