Five people killed include Dade couple

 BY GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES AND ELAINE DE VALLE

 The FBI in Miami is helping the Cuban government with its investigation into a five-person massacre that claimed the lives of a Hialeah Gardens couple and three other people last month, officials confirmed.

 ``The Cuban government asked the State Department, which came to us,'' FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said Wednesday. ``I can't say what they want us to do, but they have made a formal request for our assistance here.''

 A federal source familiar with the request said the Cuban government is seeking any criminal intelligence that could link the slain couple's son, Osmani Placencia of
 Miami, to migrant smuggling. The U.S. Border Patrol says that no such evidence exists, however, and Placencia denies any involvement in smuggling ventures.

 The unusual collaboration between Cuban and American law officers comes at the same time that sobering crime-scene photographs of the victims' bodies are making the rounds in Miami -- sent electronically by Cuban state employees with access to computers and e-mail.

 Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univision aired the forensic photos last week, renewing public interest in the unsolved murders and raising a fresh set of
 questions: Who ``leaked'' the photos to Miami?

 At the heart of all the intrigue, the victims, killed in a roadside assault and robbery on Dec. 17 as they traveled from José Martí International Airport in Havana to their countryside hometown of Santa Clara: Celedonio Placencia, 60, and Ada Lorenzo, 52, of Hialeah Gardens, who were making a holiday visit.

 Even though the couple were U.S. residents, not citizens, and despite the lack of formal relations between the United States and Cuba, the State Department considers it mutually beneficial to cooperate on the murder investigation, the first such case that anyone can remember, a spokesman said.

 ``We try to work together on those issues that we can,'' said the official, who asked not to be named.

 Also slain: the couple's daughter Yailén, 28. Their grandson Daniel, 8, the son of Osmani Placencia. And family friend Domingo Delgado, who drove the group in his car.

 Authorities have said the killers shot or stabbed the victims and stole their considerable belongings and cash, leaving the bloodied bodies behind.

 The crime-scene photos -- six of which also were e-mailed to The Herald last week -- show the victims and Delgado's four-door, green Moskvich stopped on the road along a desolate stretch of the Ocho Vías highway near Matanzas.

 Celedonio Placencia and his daughter are seen sprawled in the grass outside the car. The other three victims are visible inside the vehicle.

 Luis Fernández, a spokesman at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., said the government did not arrange distribution of the crime-scene photographs,
 which have not been published in Cuba.

 Two different Miami residents e-mailed the crime-scene photos to Telenoticias and to The Herald. Both said they got them from state-employed relatives in Cuba. Neither relative works in law enforcement.

 The Herald's source, who asked not to be named, said everyone in her relative's office had access to the photographs and that the relative has sent her photographs from at least one other crime scene.

 Dr. Ercilio Vento, the Matanzas medical examiner who autopsied the five murder victims, told associates the attack was ``horrible'' and showed ``extreme viciousness,'' according to a source in Havana with close access to government authorities.

 The violent nature of the killings -- especially in a country where fatal shootings are rare -- immediately led to speculation about why the murderers would feel motivated to wantonly kill everyone, including the boy. Could it be vengeance, Cuban investigators wondered?

 The Cuban government inquiry about alien smuggling apparently is rooted in that theory, based on unsubstantiated reports from the island that Placencia had been
 involved in failed smuggling trips that killed one or two people, according to the source in Havana close to government authorities.

 But Border Patrol sources told The Herald that Placencia's name has never surfaced in connection with alien smuggling. Placencia has no criminal record and does not own a boat.

 The federal source familiar with Cuba's information request said it was made to U.S. diplomats and then forwarded through channels to the Justice Department. An initial inquiry asked for relatives in Miami to provide details about the victims' clothing, luggage and gifts, all of which were stolen.

 ``There were some inquiries about travel'' by Placencia or his parents, the source said. ``They also asked, `Can you confirm that [Placencia] has a background in alien smuggling?' '' but the answer was no.

 Placencia says the smuggling reports were planted by the Cuban government ``because they don't want to accept the blame for failing to provide security'' and it's easier to blame the victims and U.S. migration policy, which Cuba says encourages smuggling.

 ``If I were involved in migrant smuggling I wouldn't be making $8 an hour, working 10 hours everyday,'' said Placencia, a salesman of refrigeration parts.

 On Tuesday, he went on Ninoska Pérez Castellón's Spanish-language radio program to publicly deny the reports.

 Now a U.S. citizen, Placencia said he hasn't traveled to Cuba since he left in 1994 and he won't now -- not even to visit the graves of his parents and young son.

 ``I don't plan to go there because I know how the Cuban government acts,'' he said.

                                    © 2002