1 of 2 suspected serial rapists still on the loose, deputies say

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County deputies have made one arrest in a series of alleged rapes in Orange County.

At least four women have been attacked, deputies said.

Deputies said Raul Liranzo-Bandera and another man picked up women together, held them against their will, raped them and then pushed them out of a moving car.

Detectives said three of the victims admitted they were prostitutes.

The women all said they were picked up on Orange Blossom Trail, held against their will and raped in a car, before being dumped along a roadway near Apopka, where Liranzo-Bandera lives.

Liranzo-Bandera is being held in jail without bond after deputies said a prostitute he picked up then raped on May 10 was able to identify him in a photo lineup.

The victims remembered riding on State Road 414 and exiting a toll plaza on Keene Road, so detectives pulled records from the Central Florida Expressway Authority and found a white Toyota sedan and a dark Nissan Altima matching the victims’ descriptions if the serial rapists cars.

One woman told authorities he and another man picked her up at Taste of Jamaica on North orange Blossom Trail. She agreed to go at first, but when they started haggling over price, she asked them to let her out of the car.

Instead, she said Liranzo-Bandera “got on top of her, holding her down in the backseat of the vehicle.”

A second, unidentified man, assaulted her too, deputies said.

Eventually they pushed her out of a moving vehicle, the victim told deputies.

The story she told authorities was similar to two other cases from a week-and-a-half prior.

Another woman told detectives that two men, who identified themselves as “Cuba” and “Pedro,” picked her up near Travelodge on Orange Blossom Trail and while one drove, the other raped her.

They dumped her on Keene Road after the alleged assault.

Later that night, another woman reported two men picked her up at Bombshells Tavern bar on Edgewater Drive.

They took turns raping her, then grabbed her body and tried to put her in the trunk of the vehicle, a report said.

She told deputies when she started screaming, they left her on the roadway and drove away.

In a report, a deputy wrote, “Raul Liranzo-Bandera lured women into his vehicle, terrorizes and sexually batters them, and leaves the victims stranded in remote areas of Orange County.”

The second suspect has not been identified.

Deputies won’t say if they know who the second suspect is, but the case is open and an investigation is ongoing.

Cox Media Group