Investigators say documents, credit cards and overseas communications were used in an effort to make Maria Gaminde appear alive after she vanished.
DEBARY, FL — A Florida man has been charged with first-degree murder in the disappearance of his wife after investigators said evidence uncovered during a lengthy international inquiry pointed to an effort to make it appear she was alive and living overseas.
Epifanio IX Ramos Gaminde was arrested Monday after a grand jury indicted him in connection with the disappearance of Maria Gaminde, whose family has had no confirmed contact with her since January 2024, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office. Her body has not been recovered. Gaminde is being held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail and also is subject to an immigration detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Authorities said Maria Gaminde’s family reported her missing after relatives became increasingly concerned about their inability to reach her. Her husband told investigators that she had voluntarily left the couple’s DeBary home because of marital problems and was living overseas, possibly in the Philippines or Japan. Investigators later questioned that account after reviewing text messages, emails and financial activity that appeared to come from Maria but raised concerns about whether she was actually sending them.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said relatives contacted investigators in July 2024 because messages attributed to Maria and spending on her credit cards did not seem right. Detectives expanded the investigation with help from federal agencies and international partners. Investigators from the sheriff’s office and the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit later traveled to the Philippines to collect evidence and interview people connected to the case.
Investigators said a relative of Epifanio Gaminde who was living in the Philippines eventually provided information about how Maria’s documents and financial cards had been sent overseas. Chitwood said the relative described receiving important documents, including Maria’s driver’s license and credit cards, along with instructions involving activity in the Philippines and Japan. Authorities allege those actions were intended to create the appearance that Maria remained alive while avoiding contact with relatives, friends and law enforcement.
Detectives also worked to determine when Maria was last known to have been alive in the United States. Chitwood said investigators confirmed that Maria and her children visited Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom on Dec. 16, 2023, using fingerprint scans to enter the park. Investigators said they later found no travel record showing that Maria left the United States and no financial trail that independently established she was alive overseas.
The investigation returned to the couple’s DeBary property Tuesday as a crime scene unit searched the area around the home. Chitwood said investigators focused in part on an area behind the house where concrete work had been done after a neighbor reported seeing extensive work in the backyard around the period when Maria disappeared. Authorities cautioned that they did not know whether the search would lead to her remains, and no recovery had been announced as of Wednesday.
The case is proceeding even without Maria’s body. State Attorney R.J. Larizza said prosecutors are prepared to pursue the first-degree murder charge based on the evidence investigators have gathered. A murder prosecution without a recovered body can depend heavily on circumstantial, digital, financial and witness evidence, and authorities have not publicly released all of the evidence presented to the grand jury that returned the indictment.
Authorities said the investigation involved the FBI as well as contacts and evidence gathering in the Philippines and Japan. The international work became important as detectives examined the origin of communications and transactions that appeared to suggest Maria was abroad. Investigators allege those records instead became part of evidence supporting their belief that someone was trying to maintain the false impression that she was alive.
Maria Gaminde and her husband have three children. After Epifanio Gaminde was taken into custody, authorities said the children were reunited with members of Maria’s family. WESH reported that Maria worked as a paraprofessional at University High School in Orange City. Neighbors interviewed after the arrest described her as quiet and devoted to her children, though those observations are not evidence in the criminal case.
Gaminde has not been convicted of the murder charge, and prosecutors will have to prove the allegations in court. Authorities have not publicly disclosed a cause or manner of Maria’s presumed death, where they believe she died or where her remains might be. The sheriff’s office said the investigation remains active and additional information will be released as the case develops.
Author note: Last updated October 28, 2026.