Miami, FL (Le Floridien) – A federal jury has found two Miami men guilty of a harrowing kidnapping and double murder that unfolded in December 2020. James Edward Daniels, 59, and Frederick Eugene Rudolph, 69, were convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, multiple counts of kidnapping resulting in death, and kidnapping. The verdict was delivered on December 17 in U.S. District Court before Judge Roy K. Altman.
The charges stem from a brutal crime that began on December 5, 2020, at a truck yard in Opa-Locka, Florida. Daniels, Rudolph, and other co-conspirators abducted three individuals after stealing their drugs. The victims were bound, tortured, and blindfolded with duct tape before being thrown into the back of a rented van. The group drove the victims around the city for hours, eventually taking them to an abandoned house in Opa-Locka, where they attempted to execute all three by gunfire.
Two of the victims succumbed to their injuries, while the third miraculously survived. Prosecutors revealed during the trial that Daniels looted jewelry from one of the deceased victims, and all the conspirators received drugs, money, or both as payment for their roles in the plot.
A third defendant, Herbert Barr, 56, pleaded guilty to kidnapping on November 26 and awaits sentencing.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, alongside FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri, Miami-Dade Police Department Director Stephanie V. Daniels, and DEA Special Agent in Charge Deanne L. Reuter, announced the convictions. The case was investigated by a coalition of agencies, including the FBI’s Miami Division Homestead Resident Agency, the Miami-Dade Police Department Homicide Bureau, and the DEA’s Homestead Office.
Daniels and Rudolph face sentencing on March 10, 2025. They could receive life imprisonment, fines of up to $250,000 per count, and lifetime supervised release.
The investigation was part of the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, a federal, state, and local collaboration targeting the region’s drug trafficking and money laundering networks. HIDTA is funded by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
