An undocumented Hungarian immigrant charged with the murder of two elderly gay men could be the first person to receive a mandatory death penalty sentence under a controversial new Florida law.
According to the Miami Herald, Hungarian national Zsolt Zsolyomi entered the U.S. on a 90-day visa in 2022. Zsolyomi overstayed his visa and allegedly went on what Miami Herald reporter Devoun Cetoute described as a “crime spree” in an interview with Fox 35 Orlando.
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In 2024, Zsolyomi was charged with petit theft and strong-armed robbery in two separate instances in Broward County, Florida. The following September, he was taken into custody, fitted with an ankle monitor, and released. But according to Fox 35 Orlando, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lost track of Zsolyomi.
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Last November, Miami police connected him with the murder of 66-year-old Carlos Villaquiran, who was found face-down in a bathtub in his Miami Beach apartment having been strangled. Police said Zsolyomi had been in an intimate relationship with Villaquiran, according to Fox 35.
In February, Zsolyomi was arrested in connection with the murder of 71-year-old Rodolfo Fernandez de Velasco, who was found strangled with the seatbelt of his car the previous month.
Fox 35 reported in February that Zsolyomi had confessed to the two killings and has been charged with second-degree murder. Police said the 25-year-old may have been “targeting the elderly, gay community.”
“This fella is a really bad guy,” Miami Beach police Chief Wayne Jones said at a press conference. “He is the epitome of evil. He hunts his prey. He’s patient with his prey, and then he kills them. There’s no doubt in my mind, had he not been caught, he would’ve done this again and again and again.”
If convicted, Zsolyomi could be the first person to face an automatic death sentence under a law passed by the Florida legislature in January. The immigration bill, which has been described as unconstitutional, includes a provision requiring “unauthorized aliens” who are convicted of a capital offense to receive a mandatory death sentence.
As the Death Penalty Information Center notes, longstanding federal precedent and international law prohibit mandatory death sentences. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has stated publicly that he plans to veto the bill, citing clauses unrelated to the mandatory death penalty provision that he finds too “weak.”
Cetoute credited local law enforcement for bringing Zsolyomi to justice while criticizing ICE for mishandling the case prior to the two murders.
“When Miami Beach police figured out that they had a murder on their hands in November, it only took a few weeks for them to track down Zsolyomi, and once the second murder was committed, they were almost instantly able to connect him to that murder, as well,” Cetoute said. “So, for police it was a quick process to identify and track this man, but for ICE, for some reason, it took a lot longer than that.”
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