ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Miya’s Law, a bill named in honor of slain Orlando college student Miya Marcano that seeks to make apartments safer by requiring background checks on employees, at a private ceremony Monday, according to a news release.
Marcano, a 19-year-old Valencia College student, was killed by a maintenance worker who used a master key to access her apartment at Arden Villas, authorities said. Her body was found bound with duct tape Oct. 2 near the dilapidated Tymber Skan apartments following a massive weeklong search.
Marcano’s parents and brother traveled to the state Capitol Monday to attend the governor’s signing, according to the foundation started by the family in her name. Marlon Marcano, the teenager’s father, thanked DeSantis for signing the bill.
“My daughter is my world,” he said in a statement. “ ... With the passing of Miya’s Law, I am extremely grateful to everyone involved and I want the community to know that we will do everything we can to ensure what happened to our Miya doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Miya’s Law also requires landlords to maintain a key log of who has access to apartments and provide tenants 24 hours notice, instead of 12 hours, before entering their units for repairs, said state Sen. Linda Stewart, the bill’s co-sponsor.
“While Miya’s family will never receive justice and nothing can bring back their daughter, I do hope that with this new law going into effect, in honor of Miya, that some peace will be brought to the family in knowing that their daughter’s death was not in vain,” said Stewart in a statement.
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