In November 2007, Francisco “Frankie” Cuevas was murdered and dismembered in South Florida. He was 47 years old at the time and a business man in Coral Springs. In 2008, his body was found in a metal box in Palm Beach Gardens. During that same period of time, Gustavo Enamorado-Dubon was just 16 years old and was in his home country of Honduras.
The Coral Springs detectives investigating the murder of Cuevas stated on record that they never had any proof Gustavo was in the United States during the time of the murder. The detectives told their supervisor that they believed Gustavo was innocent. Nonetheless, in 2010 at the age of 18 Gustavo became a suspect in the murder. In 2013, when he was just 22 years old, he was indicted for the murder, tried, and convicted.
He is currently incarcerated in Florida and seeking justice. The family of Cuevas also believe that justice has not been served. According to the detectives investigating the crime and the family’s website, Cuevas’s business partner, Hagen Christ, is a person of interest who has not yet been investigated. He withdrew $58,500 from Cuevas’s bank accounts, gave information to detectives about Cuevas’s whereabouts that was incorrect, and fled the US in 2010. As an abolitionist organization, CHIP doesn’t believe that incarceration is the solution to harm; yet we do believe that those who cause harm should be held accountable even as no one — including innocent people — should be in prison.
Gustavo appealed his conviction in 2020 and it was sent back to a lower court to determine if Gustavo, who had a severe head injury as a youth, was even competent to stand trial. He hasn’t heard anything further about his appeal since 2020. He isn’t eligible for the Innocence Project since his case doesn’t involve DNA evidence — just evidence that he wasn’t in the US when the crime was committed. Gustavo is still in prison.
Gustavo’s message to CHIP: “It is just unbelievable what these professional detectives say about me, about my innocence, after this long time being locked up. Like I always say, these people in Court know I’m the wrong one. You may ask yourself, how did I get involved in this?…These people are accusing me for some charges I never did in my life and they know that….I can’t lie about this. That’s why I’m looking for an interview with any newspapers or [TV] stations. I want to bring up to the light all this so the whole world can see it. I do believe in justice, freedom.”
Learn more about the case
Sun Sentinel, April 4, 2013: No connection between Gustavo and Cuevas
Local10, August 12, 2014: No evidence beyond Gustavo’s confession which only includes info available to public and some inaccurate information; detectives believe he is innocent
Local10, August 12, 2014: Motive for false confession was to avoid deportation
Local10, September 4, 2014: Gustavo has proof he was in Honduras at the time of the murder
Palm Beach Post, November 8, 2018: Cuevas’s business partner never investigated and family still seeking justice
Get involved
You can help amplify Gustavo’s case by sharing the story on social media using the slides here and the hashtag #justice4gustavo. Contact the press and let them know that you care about this story. Want to write to Gustavo and send him solidarity? Email CHIP at CHIP_hotline (at) riseup (dot) net for more info.
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