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Woman's Charred Body Identified

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By KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO and BILLY TOWNSEND, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2007

Rene Roman should have been celebrating his 39th birthday Friday.

Instead, he was making preparations to take the charred remains of his slain daughter home to Puerto Rico.

"I only want that whoever did this that they catch them and bring them to justice," Roman said in an interview from a family friend's home in St. Petersburg. "I can't do anything else. They took away my heart. My little girl. My good little girl."

The body of Solymarie Roman of Orlando was found last week in remote southeast Polk County by authorities responding to a brush fire call. Polk sheriff's detectives have interviewed her boyfriend, 28-year-old Mourad Balzourt, but no arrests have been made.

Balzourt lived with the victim and was the last person known to have seen her alive, detectives said. Detectives say he may have been driving Roman's 2007 Ford Edge in the area where she was found dead Nov. 1.

Balzourt could not be reached late Friday afternoon. His sister, Jamila Balzourt, who also lives in Orlando, said there's no way her brother killed Roman.

"That's not him. He's not violent," she said. "He's very responsible."

Jamila Balzourt said she had seen Roman just once. She speculated that someone else killed her out of jealousy.

Rene Roman last saw his daughter when he came to Florida for a family wedding. He is especially grateful for that visit now. In the past few weeks, although he said he tried calling her every day, he could never reach her.

Roman had sent his daughter some jewelry for her 22nd birthday on Sept. 28.

"I gave it to her about three weeks ago," Roman said. "I left her a message, but she never called me back. I called her almost every day in October."

Then his ex-wife - Solymarie Roman's mother, who also lives in Puerto Rico - gave him the news.

"Tuesday they called me," he said. "They didn't tell me that she was dead. Her mother said that she had disappeared."

He flew into from Puerto Rico. He said he has no idea who could have done this to her. He didn't know whether she had a boyfriend or not. She hadn't told him of one.

He said that about three years ago, his daughter moved from Puerto Rico to Orlando, where an aunt and uncle live.

"She didn't know any English, so she came here, learned it and then got a job," Roman said. "She worked in a Holiday Inn as a cashier."

Next week, Roman said, he will take his little girl home.

"They'll give me her body Wednesday. And I'll take her to Puerto Rico."

News Channel 8 photojournalist Joe Martin contributed to this report. Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso can be reached at kbranch-brioso@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7815.

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