Mother-of-two Rossana Delgado (pictured) had been missing for four days when her body was found on April 20 in Gilmer County
A husband tracking his missing wife’s final movements from her cell phone unknowingly ended up face-to-face with a suspect in her murder, her friend said.
Yhony Castro began searching for his wife Rossana Delgado, a 37-year-old taxi driver, on the night of April 16 after she told him she was finishing up her shift and then never returned to their home in Bethlehem, Georgia.
In an interview on Wednesday, Delgado’s friend Jennifer Nuñez said Castro tracked his wife’s phone and found it had been at two locations 44 miles away in Decatur: a storage unit and a home he didn’t recognize.
Castro first visited the Public Storage unit on Covington Highway, where he found a bloody face mask with blood police later confirmed was Delgado’s.
Nuñez said Castro then went to the home where he spoke to 30-year-old Megan Alyssa Colone, who would later be named as one of the five suspects in Delgado’s murder by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
When Castro rang the doorbell and asked Colone about his wife, she acted bizarrely and panicked, Nuñez said.
‘She pretended like she didn’t know what was happening,’ Nuñez told 11Alive in a Spanish interview.
Police said Delgado’s body was discovered at a cabin in Cherry Log believed to be owned by Colone four days later on April 20.
Authorities launched a manhunt for Colone, who allegedly fled from Decatur after being confronted by Castro, on April 24. They are also searching for four other male suspects in connection with Delgado’s murder.
Yhony Castro began searching for his wife Delgado (pictured together) on the night of April 16 after she told him she was finishing up her shift and then never returned to their home in Bethlehem, Georgia
Police named Megan Alyssa Colone, 30, (pictured) as a suspect in Delgado’s murder. A manhunt was launched for Delgado and four other suspects on April 24
‘She left running,’ Nuñez said of Colone. ‘The family told me she was so fearful that she even left a little girl who was about one-year-old out there with them.’
Nuñez said she believes Delgado may have been inside Colone’s Decatur home when her husband was at the doorstep – possibly alive.
‘I would say there’s a close to 100% chance that Rossana was inside that home at that time, and could’ve been alive,’ Nuñez told 11Alive. ‘If the cops had acted quickly and listened to Yhony, things could’ve been different.’
Police have not confirmed if Delgado was ever at Colone’s Decatur home.
Last week, Castro tearfully told Univision 34 Atlanta that he was hopeful his wife would be found.
‘I’m looking for her, using all the resources possible to find her. I feel like we will find her,’ he said in Spanish.
Delgado’s best friend Jennifer Nuñez says she believes Delgado was inside Colone’s home when her husband was at the doorstep after tracking her last-known locations through her cellphone
Police have not confirmed if Delgado (pictured) was ever at Colone’s Decatur home
Castro is pictured in an interview with Univision 34 Atlanta last week where he pleaded for his wife’s safe return before her body was found
In a separate interview, Nuñez told Univision 34 Atlanta police did show up to Colone’s Decatur home, not because of Castro’s suspicions he presented to authorities due to his wife’s cellphone activity, but because Colone herself called the police to complain about Castro and others who were confronting her at the home.
Police told Castro to ‘withdraw or they would put him in prison,’ Univision 34 Atlanta reported.
Nuñez said authorities’ failure to act in a timely matter might of made the difference between finding Delgado alive.
‘They did not act, but followed a protocol that seems absurd to me, because they were the most crucial moments and hours to have been able to find Rossana,’ she said.
Just days later, on April 20, Delgado’s body was found in a log cabin belonging to Colone in Gilmer County, 11Alive reported.
The GBI is searching for Colone, who goes by the alias Grace Beda, along with four men in connection to Delgado’s murder.
Police released images of a fourth unnamed man wanted in connection to Delgado’s murder (left) and asked for help in identifying a woman who was last seen with Delgado (right)
Footage released by her family in what they believe is the last time she was seen alive, shows Delgado in a Ross Store in the Mall Plaza Fiesta in Atlanta. In the clip, Delgado is seen checking out at a register
GBI has also issued murder warrants for Juan Ayala-Rodriguez, 35, of Gainesville; Oscar Manuel Garcia, 26, of Austell; Mario Alberto Barbosa-Juarez, 29, of Oklahoma City.
It is believed that the suspects may already have left the country and that Colone is traveling with her minor children.
‘Authorities nationwide have been alerted about these individuals,’ the GBI said.
Investigators also released a still of a fifth unidentified suspect they believe was involved in Delgado’s murder.
The man in the photos appears to be wearing jeans, a dark hoodie, and a blue cap with a white logo on it.
On Tuesday, GBI asked for help identifying a woman caught on surveillance footage interacting with Delgado at a Ross store in the Chamblee mall called Plaza Fiesta on April 16.
The footage shows the last moments Delgado was seen before her disappearance.
Her husband says she called him at 7pm on April 16 before picking up a passenger as a taxi driver and that was her last known communication.
The next day Castro reported her missing and began tracking her movements through her cellphone.
Investigators haven’t specified how the suspects were connected to the death. A motive has not been determined.
A cause of death has not been released but an autopsy will be conducted.
Police said anyone who spots the suspects should not approach them but call authorities immediately.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Colone, Ayala-Rodriguez, Garcia or Barbosa-Juarez are asked to call the GBI Tipline at 1-800-597-TIPS(8477).
The 37-year-old mother of two was found dead three days after being reported missing by her husband. Police have not determined a motive for her murder
Castro tracked his wife’s (pictured together) movements the night she disappeared through her cellphone and unknowingly ended up at the home of one of the five suspects in Delgado’s murder
Castro was hopeful to the end, telling reporters ‘I’m looking for her, using all the resources possible to find her. I feel like we will find her’ as he searched for his 37-year-old wife (pictured together)
Yhony Castro last spoke to his wife (pictured together) on the night of April 16 when she told him she was finishing up her shift as a taxi driver
