Photo: First Coast News
Jillian Berrios was killed in her car.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on May 13, 2019
In 2013, she was brutally murdered in her car. Now, seven years later, her murder remains unsolved. Who killed Jillian Berrios?
On October 18, 2013, just before 6:00 a.m. EST, Jillian Berrios was driving home from a friend’s birthday party. She never made it home, because according to Project Cold Case, someone fired five shots into her car, killing her instantly (and wounding her passenger).
The man, who shot her in the Jacksonville, FL suburb of Orange Park, was described as a “black man,” but no further details have been released…or even found.
Let’s look at what else we know about Jillian Berrios’ brutal unsolved murder.
1. The police have a few identifying details about the night of her murder.
According to First Coast News, Jillian Berrios and her friend (whose identity has not been released by the police) were followed home from the Taboo Bar & Grill by two men in a red Chevy Aveo. The car had a license plate that began with ESG. The black man, who is alleged to be the shooter, was also the driver of the car.
That, however, is the extent of the identifying details that the police have about the case. And while Berrios’s friend has been cooperative with the police, she also claims she doesn’t have any idea who could want her, or her friend, dead.
2. Jillian Berrios’s boyfriend was a drug dealer — could her death be tied to his business?
According to News 4 Jax, Jillian Berrios’s boyfriend, Joseph Vazquez, was arrested about two weeks after her murder on drug charges. He was charged with possession with intent to sell, and was immediately placed in custody in the Clay County jail. (Previously, he’d been convicted on a possession of cocaine charge.)
Though Vazquez is not a suspect in Berrios’s murder, there’s a chance her murder may be connected to her boyfriend’s “line of work.” Could Berrios’s murderer have been trying to send Vazquez a message with her death?
3. Her friends don’t understand why she was killed.
In a separate report for News 4 Jax, Berrios’s friends claim that they have “no idea” why their friend was killed.
Flacco, one of her friends, spoke exclusively to the outlet and said that her death was senseless.
“Jillian's death was senseless," he said. "We just have to find the person who did this and make them pay. People who do this stuff shouldn't be walking the streets, they should be locked up in jail. Somebody knows something. We just need somebody to step up with information."
4. Her murder remains unsolved.
Even though police have a cooperating witness, a few identifying details about the killers, and some leads, Jillian Berrios’s murder remains unsolved. According to Jacksonville.com, Amanda La Haiwanna, who identifies herself as one of Berrios’s best friends, said that Berrios was a fun-loving girl who didn’t deserve to die the way she did.
“She did a lot of things for fun. We would go out to karaoke, play pool, go the Spanish clubs just so we could dance salsa,” she told the outlet. “We always had a little get together so that our kids could play together.”
Her friends have maintained a memorial page on Facebook for her. The Orange Park police are working closely with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to solve the case.
Anyone with any details regarding the Jillian Berrios unsolved murder is invited to call the Florida Department of Law Enforcement at (850) 410-7000.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. Find her online at www.bernadettegiacomazzo.com and www.longlivetheuprising.com.