Zepeda-Urbina also facing three counts of armed burglary of occupied dwelling
A 32-year-old Sarasota resident has been charged in connection with a homicide that occurred on Nov. 1 at the Applegate Apartments, which are located at 1500 North Lockwood Ridge Road, the Sarasota Police Department reported on Nov. 2.
Detectives with the agency arrested Josue Roberto Zepeda-Urbina, of 2653 Grand Cayman St., on Nov. 1, charging him also with three counts of armed burglary of an occupied dwelling, his jail booking record notes. He is being held without bond, that record says.
On Nov. 3, The Sarasota News Leader learned, Zepeda-Urbina entered a plea of “Not Guilty” in the case and demanded a jury trial, court records show. He is being represented by Assistant Public Defender Marc Richard Gilman.
The Police Department investigation determined that Zepeda-Urbina entered an apartment without permission when additional people were inside the dwelling, a news release says. Zepeda-Urbina “and the victim did know each other,” the release adds.
It was about 4 a.m. on Nov. 1 when Sarasota Police officers responded to a call about “an unresponsive woman at the Applegate Apartments,” the news release notes. The woman “was pronounced dead by the Sarasota County Fire Department shortly after 4:30 a.m.,” the release says.
A witness who is familiar with both Zepeda-Urbino and the victim assisted with identifying Zepeda-Urbina as the suspect, the release points out.
Zepeda-Urbina’s Probable Cause Affidavit in the case identifies the deceased woman as Cheyna Kimberlin Moreno-Martinez.
About 5 a.m. on Nov. 1, the news release continues, Sarasota Police officers received an alert from Flock cameras in regard to the vehicle Zepeda-Urbina was driving. “Officers stopped him near the intersection of Beneva Road and Fruitville Road and arrested him without incident,” the release says. “The case remains under investigation,” the release adds. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sarasota Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at 941-263-6070 or Sarasota Crime Stoppers at 941-366-TIPS (8477).
On its website, Applegate Apartments says the complex accepts Section 8 vouchers, adding, “Our premier rental community offers everything from spacious floor plans to open-access amenities and convenient community.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) explains on its website, “The Housing Choice Voucher Program (also known as Section 8) helps low-income families, elderly persons, veterans and disabled individuals afford housing in the private market. Program participants can choose any eligible housing unit, including single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments, with rent partially covered by a subsidy paid directly to the landlord. There are around 2,000 Local Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) across the country that administer the HCV program with funding from HUD.”
A cordial separation
The Probable Cause Affidavit in the case explains that a witness told officers that she was asleep in her bedroom “when she heard Zepeda-Urbina’s voice state something to the effect of ‘I told you.’ ”
Then she heard a man named Miguel Angel Landeros-Tress “yell ‘No,’ ” the affidavit continues. When the witness “came out of her bedroom, the affidavit says, she saw the victim, Moreno-Martinez, “sitting on the bed in her room with blood on her neck.” Landeros-Tress then told the witness to call 911, it adds.
As she was outside on the balcony, making the 911 call, the witness added, she “observed Zepeda-Urbina’s silver Nissan leaving the apartment property,” turning onto Lockwood Ridge Road, the affidavit says.
The witness was able to “positively identify Zepeda-Urbina in a photo line-up,” the affidavit notes.
Landeros-Tress told a detective that “he met Moreno-Martinez approximately one year ago,” the affidavit continues, and that they had had “occasional sexual encounters. He was aware Moreno-Martinez had an ‘ex’ but he had never met Zepeda-Urbina,” the affidavit notes.
Then he explained that he had arrived in the Sarasota area on Oct. 30 and had stayed with Moreno-Martinez both that night and the night of Oct. 31.
Early in the morning of Nov. 1, the affidavit adds, he and Moreno-Martinez “were asleep in her bedroom [when] Zepeda-Urbina entered their room and turned on the lights.” Landeros-Tress then reported that Zepeda-Urbina “stated something to the effect of ‘This is serious,’ ” the affidavit says, and he asked, “ ‘Who is this?’ ”
“Moreno-Martinez sat up in bed,” Landeros-Tress continued in the affidavit, and “Zepeda-Urbina then stabbed her in the neck with what [Landeros-Tress] described as a screwdriver.”
Zepeda-Urbina “fled the apartment,” he told the detective, and Landeros-Tress also called 911, the affidavit says.
Zepeda-Urbina told the Sarasota Police Department detective that “he and Moreno-Martinez had separated but were still in communication and cordial with each other,” the affidavit notes. He explained that she and the witness had moved into a location that was redacted from the affidavit. He had stayed there on several occasions, he added. Further, he reported to the detective, Moreno-Martinez had spent the night “with him at his residence on several occasions,” the affidavit says.
He told the detective he did not have a key to her residence, it notes.
About 5 p.m. on Oct. 31, Zepeda-Urbina continued, Moreno-Martinez brought dinner to him at his residence and “told him to come by later,” the affidavit says.
He went to a bar around 11 p.m., he reported, and stayed there until about 2 a.m.. When he left, the affidavit adds, “he drove to Moreno-Martinez’s apartment and drove around until he located her vehicle …” When he walked up to her apartment, the affidavit continues, he knocked, but no one answered.
Then, Zepeda-Urbina told the detective, he called both the witness and Moreno-Martinez, but he received no answer. He tried to open the door to the apartment, the affidavit indicates, but the door was locked.
At that point, he reported, he returned to his vehicle and retrieved two black screwdrivers; one, a flathead; the other, a Phillips model. Afterward, he walked back up to the apartment “and forced the door open using [one of the screwdrivers],” the affidavit says. “Once inside,” it continues, “he saw that the door to Moreno-Martinez’s room was closed and locked,” so he tried to force it open. After he was able to enter the room, the affidavit says, he turned on a lamp and saw “Moreno-Martinez and Landeros-Tress engaged in sex.”
After he confronted Moreno-Martinez, the affidavit adds, he “stabbed the mattress one time with the screwdriver [and] then stabbed [Moreno-Martinez] one time” before fleeing the apartment. “He placed the screwdrivers back into [his] Nissan” and headed home, the affidavit notes.
About 10 minutes later, he told the detective, he went to a convenience store for cigarettes and then returned to a place that was redacted. “He saw emergency responders at the location and fled the area,” the affidavit says.
The detective observed that Zepeda-Urbina “had a laceration on his right elbow and on the top of his left hand,” the affidavit adds. He told the detective that he suffered the injuries in the above incident.
The affidavit says that police personnel found evidence indicating that the door to Moreno-Martinez’s bedroom had been forced open.
Prior court cases
A News Leader review of 12th Judicial Circuit Court records found one set of unrelated counts against Zepeda-Urbina in regard to operating a motor vehicle without a valid license and failure to have registered the motor vehicle. That incident occurred on July 20, 2025, the records note.
The Probable Cause Affidavit in the case said that the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office deputy who stopped Zepeda-Urbina at the intersection of Clemson and Englewood roads had to await the arrival of a second deputy who could speak Spanish before being able to question Zepeda-Urbina.
During the ensuing exchanges, Zepeda-Urbina said he was “in the process of obtaining his [Social Security] number, which [would] allow him to obtain his work visa, which [would] allow him to obtain a [driver’s] license,” the affidavit pointed out.
Zepeda-Urbina ended up pleading guilty to the charges and agreeing to pay the court fine and related fees, court records show.
He also was cited in April 2024 and on Nov. 1 for failing to stop for a red light. In the latter case, the incident occurred at the intersection of Fruitville and North Beneva roads, the citation said.