Cruz Medero, 52, was arrested and charged with murder in the second degree for the death of Dylan James Baker, 43, who was killed by a single gunshot wound.
On Nov. 19, 2022, North Port police responded to a shooting at the Grande Court Apartments on the 5000 block of Greenwood Avenue, according to an affidavit in the case. When law enforcement arrived, they discovered Baker had a single gunshot wound to his abdomen.
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Assistant State Attorney Karen Fraivillig, the prosecutor on the case, said that during the trial, jurors heard from a woman named Jossie Ortiz, who had been in a romantic relationship with the victim. Baker had moved in and been living with Ortiz, her 16-year-old daughter, her daughter’s boyfriend and Medero for about six months before the shooting occurred.
Fraivillig said further testimony revealed that Ortiz had left to go to Pennsylvania for a week in November 2022 and in the week leading up to the shooting, Medero constantly texted his sister that everything Baker did annoyed him.