Two Former ASA College Students Charged With The 2016 Murder of FIU Student

Two men were arrested at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Wednesday and appeared in front of a Miami-Dade County court on Thursday to face charges for a murder that occurred more than four years ago in Sweetwater. One of the guys is the brother of an NFL player.

Donterio Fowler, 25, and Keondre Fields, 23, both from St. Petersburg, had played football together and were both students at ASA College in Hialeah when the murder occurred on Dec. 12, 2016.

According to the July 23rd arrest warrant, Miami-Dade Detective Jonathan Grossman said murder victim Michael Zaldua’s phone records showed many interactions with a phone number linked to Fowler’s brother Dante Fowler (NFL Player not a suspect in the case.)

According to Grossman, Donterio Fowler used that phone number as a contact for his application to ASA College. On July 12, Miami-Dade detectives interviewed Rudi Outar, a former ASA College student. He told them that Donterio Fowler, then 20, and Fields, then 18, were both at the crime scene when the gunshots were heard.

At around 10:50 p.m., Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews discovered Zaldua, a 21-year-old Florida International University honors student and freelance photographer, dead next to his green Jeep in the parking garage of the 4th Street Commons apartment complex. He had been shot in the head, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Inside Zaldua’s Jeep, officers discovered six large Ziploc bags containing marijuana and a small amount of cocaine, as well as cash on the floor. According to Grossman, a tire pattern on Zaldua’s blood matched the tires of Donterio Fowler’s 2014 black Dodge Charger, and surveillance video showed his car was parked in the garage.

Alfonso Randolph told Florida International University police investigators that Rudi Outar had taken his SCCY CPX-1 9mm semi-automatic pistol hours before the shooting. According to Grossman, Outar seized Randolph’s gun, drove a white four-door Audi A4 to the garage, and passed the stolen gun to Donterio Fowler, who then gave it to Fields.

Surveillance video shows Zaldua Jeep in the garage at around 10:20 p.m., with the Dodge Charger and Audi entering the garage at 10:26 p.m. The arrest warrants showed that the Dodge and Audi left the garage at 10:36 p.m., but the Audi returned at 10:50 p.m. and departed at 10:53 p.m.

Records show that while detectives were unable to locate the stolen gun, they were able to match 9mm casings to a casing in the stolen gun’s original case. According to the records, detectives believe Fields fired a shot at Zaldua from the back of the car, based on ballistic tests.

Fowler and Donterio Fowler were detained by Pinellas County deputies on Monday. They were extradited to Miami-Dade County, where they are each being charged with first-degree murder with a dangerous weapon. In both cases, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer refused bond.