Bio

Mario Albo Lara was born on April 9, 1956. Lara lived in Florida. He was in a relationship with Olga Elviro, who later became one of his victims. He also knew Grisel Fumero, the other victim, through connections around the same apartment. At the time, Lara was already facing serious criminal charges. One case involved robbery and sexual battery against Grisel Fumero’s 13-year-old sister. Grisel was expected to testify against him in that upcoming trial.

Court records showed that this pending case was an important part of the motive. Prosecutors argued that Lara killed Grisel to stop her from testifying. They also said his relationship with Olga Elviro had become tense because she had learned about the charges against him and had threatened to leave him.

By July 1981, Lara’s legal problems and personal relationship issues had become closely connected to the murders. The evidence showed that the killings were not random, but were tied to the upcoming trial and the conflict with Elviro.

Murder Story

On July 16, 1981, police were called to an apartment in Dade County, Florida, after Francisco Rizo discovered the body of his girlfriend, Grisel Fumero. A Miami police officer entered the apartment and found Fumero lying face-down on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. She had been shot four times. During the investigation, police were told there was another body upstairs. That body was identified as Olga Elviro, Lara’s girlfriend. Elviro had been bound and gagged and had been stabbed three times. Evidence presented at trial also showed that Elviro had been raped.

At the time of the murders, Lara was awaiting trial on charges of robbery and sexual battery involving Grisel Fumero’s 13-year-old sister. Grisel was expected to testify against him. The trial was scheduled for the same week as the homicides, and prosecutors later argued that Grisel was killed to stop her from helping the State’s case.

Evidence showed that on the day of the murders, Lara first went to the upstairs apartment where Olga Elviro was later found dead. He woke Tomas Barcelo and said he and Elviro needed to use the apartment. Barcelo left. About half an hour later, Barcelo saw Lara leave the apartment alone. Elviro was later discovered upstairs, bound, gagged, raped, and stabbed.

After leaving the upstairs apartment, Lara went downstairs to the apartment where Grisel Fumero was present. Fumero let him in. Lara went through the kitchen into his brother’s bedroom, then returned with his hands behind his back. He told Fumero, “It’s your fault that I have lost everything.” He then pulled out a gun and shot her in the stomach. Fumero asked why he was doing that to her. Lara responded with an insult and kept firing until the gun was empty.

After the gun was empty, Lara continued pulling the trigger. His brother, Arsenio Lara, and Tomas Barcelo called him a murderer. Lara replied, “Oh, I’m a murderer,” and laughed while beginning to reload the gun. Believing they might also be killed, Arsenio and Barcelo ran from the apartment.

Police recovered a handgun from the premises, and testing showed that it had fired at least one of the bullets that struck Fumero. Investigators also recovered a serrated knife that was tentatively identified as the weapon used to stab Elviro. Lara fled Florida and was arrested in New Jersey on July 21, 1981, while hiding in a woman’s apartment. He later waived extradition to Florida.

Lara was charged with one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of involuntary sexual battery. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder for the killing of Grisel Fumero, second-degree murder for the killing of Olga Elviro, and sexual battery of Elviro. For Grisel’s murder, the jury recommended death by a vote of eight to four, and the trial court imposed a death sentence. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and original death sentence in 1985.

Lara later filed for postconviction relief. The trial court found that his trial counsel had been ineffective during the penalty phase and vacated the death sentence. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed that ruling in 1991. A new penalty phase was held, and the death sentence was imposed again in 1992. In 1997, the Florida Supreme Court reversed the second death sentence because of an improper jury instruction and ordered another sentencing proceeding.

After the 1997 reversal, a new penalty proceeding was held in May 1998. The jury recommended life imprisonment, and the trial court entered a new judgment sentencing Lara to three consecutive life terms with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Later federal records state that Lara is serving a life sentence for Florida convictions for first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and sexual battery.

Lara continued filing postconviction challenges for decades. In 2023, the Florida Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of one of his later pro se appeals. His current legal status remains imprisoned under life sentences.