Judge denies $50K bond request by lawyer of teen involved in Cape Coral girl’s killing

The teen accused as the getaway driver in a teenage girl’s murder is being held without bond after several new court developments.

Witness Michael Lasalandra, a Cape Coral detective, took the stand at Thomas Stein’s pretrial hearing on Thursday.

He said Kayla Rincon-Miller’s friends didn’t know Stein from anywhere, but their descriptions matched him perfectly.

New evidence was presented to a state witness on Thursday for Stein’s pretrial hearing. First, the statements Lasalandra got from two victims on scene the night of Rincon-Miller’s death.

“It was a young male, white, with light eyes and a bowl-cut style haircut,” said Lasalandra.

First, the statements Lasalandra got from two victims on the scene from the night of Rincon-Miller’s death, March 16.

“Hertz has global positioning system or GPS installed on their vehicles,” said Lasalndra about the rented car the suspect drove. “We’re able to obtain the position or the vehicle throughout the rental period.”

“Now, this GPS tracking system that’s on the vehicle, does it give you real-time exact locations?” asked the state attorney.

“The actual data points or latitude longitude of each GPS hit and the certification of records from the Hertz Corporation,” said Lasalandra.

Showing Stein left his home at 8:50 p.m. before coming back home at 9 p.m. He then left again at 9:09 p.m. and got to the scene of the crime along Southeast 16th Place. Within just a few minutes, Miller was shot.

The state then shows the cell site location of Steins’ phone, putting him in the same area of the crime.

“She put, ‘It might be the driver,'” said Lasalandra.

Lastly, a victim circled Stein’s photo, which was shown in a photo lineup.

The judge denied Stein’s defense requestion for a $50,000 bond. They also pointed out that a victim said it might have been Stein, but the judge found probable cause because Stein does have a previous record.

As of Thursday, Stein has no conditions of release.