Woman never met slain dad

BY DAVID OVALLE, dovalle@miamiherald.com

For years, Joanna Bello wondered about her estranged father -- even thumbing through the phone book, her finger sliding across his name.

''I wanted to see the way he looked, the way he walked. I wanted to see if we looked like each other,'' said Joanna, 27, a Miami paralegal.

Fear kept her from calling. She knew only shreds: His name was Alexio Bello. Her parents divorced in 1983. He was gay.

But fate recently delivered him to Joanna. Then, it took him away.

Alexio Bello was slain inside his Flagami condo -- just before he was to meet his daughter for the first time since she was a baby.

She doesn't remember her father, a Cuba native who worked in various factories after emigrating to New Jersey. Growing up, she assumed her mother's boyfriend was her father.

Joanna didn't learn about her father until she was 16, when her older brother pulled her aside and revealed his existence.

''I didn't know a lot. I knew he was a hard worker. He was a very clean gentleman,'' she said. ``What's so great about him is he came from Cuba in the '70s and he and my mom worked really hard and owned property.''

She harbored no ill will that he had not been a part of her life, she says.

''He had a different lifestyle. What I love about him is he lived his life the way he wanted to,'' she said.

Joanna moved to Miami at 17. Later, she graduated from Miami Beach High School and became a paralegal with the firm Mustell & Borrow.

In August, a client at the law firm noticed her strikingly familiar face.

'He started crying. He said, `I knew you when you were a child,' '' Joanna recalled. ``It was a sign for me to meet him.''

The man was Alexio's former lover. Alexio loved her and was sorry, the man insisted, telling her that her father kept photos of her in his condo.

Events unfolded quickly. Soon Alexio called the firm. ''I love you,'' he told her immediately. Joanna cried. Overwhelmed, she told him: ``We'll meet when I'm ready.''

Joanna called him in December. They planned to meet in January.

Early this month, Joanna was on vacation in Jacksonville and shut off her phone. When she powered it back on, there were 40 missed phone calls from family members calling to tell her that her father had been killed.

'I have comfort in my heart in that he said, `I love you,' '' Joanna said Wednesday.

Alexio was slain Jan. 3, Miami's first homicide case of 2008. He was 68. His health was failing. Just before New Year's Day at a laundromat, he had met a handsome young man with black curly locks and a piercing glare.

Police believe that man was Jorge Espinoza Navarette, 20, a Mexican national who came to Miami via North Carolina.

On New Year's Eve, Alexio took Navarette to meet his brother. Hugo Bello disliked him immediately.

''He looked like he was on drugs, or drunk,'' Hugo Bello said shortly after Alexio's death.

Three days later, Alexio's caretaker walked into his home at El Lago Condominiums, 5505 NW Seventh St. She found Alexio's body.

Police won't say how he died. But the scene was bloody. His two dogs were inside. Officers tied one up outside the apartment. Blood coated its snout and fur.

At best, Navarette knows information about Alexio's death, police say; at worst, he is a predator.

''We've very anxious to talk to this individual,'' Miami police Sgt. Confesor Gonzalez said.

As detectives hunt his killer, Joanna has been shoved into life's new tragic crossroads. After standing outside his condo days after Alexio's slaying, Joanna presented herself to the Miami police station. Investigators had to know she existed, Joanna thought.

Later, Joanna met Sgt. Gonzalez, Detective Orlando Silva and -- for the first time -- hugged her uncle, Hugo Bello.

''It was heartbreaking. To see her uncle. And to look like her father, who she's never met,'' Gonzalez said. ``It's almost like a dream come true -- and it gives us resolve in bringing her some closure.''

Anyone with information on Alexio Bello's death can call Miami's homicide unit at 305-579-6530 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.