Justice has a long memory, and it doesn’t forget those who prey on the vulnerable. After two months on the run, the second suspect in a brutal Connecticut home invasion that left a 69-year-old man dead and his wife fighting for her life is finally behind bars, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
U.S. Marshals arrested 24-year-old Ivan Barias-Florimon in the Bronx this week, tracking him down after an intensive manhunt that spanned state lines. The suspect now faces a litany of charges including felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder, home invasion, attempted murder, and first-degree assault on an elderly person, with a judge ordering him held without bail as reported by federal authorities.
The June 3 attack on Frederick Raymond Werner and his wife in their Milford, Connecticut home was as cowardly as it was calculated. Police say Barias-Florimon and accomplice Stuar Lopez-Reyes broke into the couple’s residence on East Broadway and opened fire, with Werner dying at the scene while his wife took a bullet to the head and remains hospitalized, according to Milford Police Department statements.
What makes this case particularly chilling is that authorities believe it wasn’t random. Milford Police have indicated the attack may have been targeted, raising troubling questions about what could possibly justify such savagery against a couple in their own home. Lopez-Reyes was captured last week and is being held on 1 million bond, per court records.
Werner’s obituary paints a picture of a man who embraced life fully, finding peace on the golf course, boating on the water, and soaking up sunshine by his pool. The ocean was his sanctuary. He leaves behind his wife, sister, two daughters, and three grandchildren who must now carry on without him.
The investigation continues, but for now, two dangerous men are off the streets. Sometimes the system works exactly as it should.
Providence watches over the bold.
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