It was an unusual crime, even by Miami standards: Dr. Sebastian Engel, a well-known philanthropist and politically connected doctor, was found gravely wounded in his Coral Gables estate earlier this week. Authorities said he was suffering massive blood loss and was near death from a single gunshot wound to the thigh when he was found by an employee.

Detectives were initially stymied. Who would want to kill a man that donated tens of thousands of dollars to the state's politicians, had a wing named after him at the local community college, who ran a profitable chain of pain clinics in Florida?

But when prosecutors, detectives and the Miami Times received packages of information about Engel in the mail, the question became: who didn't want to kill him? The list of potential suspects grew exponentially, from former sex partners to international drug cartels to shadowy players on the Dark Web who trafficked in fetish porn.

Information in the mysterious and anonymously-sent package asserted that Engel had drugged and raped numerous young women in Miami over the years. Evidence — including graphic photos and videos — also revealed that Engel had a fetish for necrophilia, the sexual abuse of dead bodies.

That wasn't all. DEA sources confirm he was under investigation at the time of his death for dispensing hundreds of thousands of opioids over the years, in violation of federal laws.

In another shocking twist, one that officials aren't sure whether it's connected to his death, Engel's fianceé is believed to have been a passenger in an ill-fated flight in Central America.

She is being considered a "person of interest," but not a suspect, a Miami Police spokesman said.

Juliette Phillips, an 18-year-old Miami-Dade College pharmaceutical student, is believed to have been aboard a small plane that disappeared in the Guatemalan jungle late Sunday or early Monday morning.

Guatemalan officials said Friday that the Cessna carrying Phillips, a pilot and possibly others vanished from the country's radar shortly after midnight Sunday. The Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil de Guatemala — that country's aviation authority — said the plane went down near the Mexican border in Peten, a sparsely populated region frequently used as a route to ship South American cocaine toward the US market.

The plane departed Sunday morning from an executive jet company at Miami-Opa Locka airport.

Little is known about Engel's early years. Acquaintances and colleagues said he was born in Germany, and that he was in his mid-forties. He had a taste for single malt scotch, $2,000 Italian leather loafers and rare modern art.

And a fourth thing: barely legal women.

"He was a nice guy, although a little intense," said Dr. Peter Josephs, who co-chaired philanthropic events with Engel for a charity that provides clean drinking water methods to developing countries. "Sebastian was outgoing socially, but kept anything personal to himself. He liked to brag about his art and cars and young conquests. But he never talked about his childhood or his past."

The Times was unable to find where Engel was born, or whether he has any relatives in the U.S. His first tangible footprint in this country came at the University of Florida Medical School. According to school records, Engel was a 4.0 student, a member of a fraternity and aspired to be a medical examiner.

After obtaining his medical degree, Engel moved to Miami and opened his first pain clinic. It catered to car crash victims and workers' compensation cases, helping people with back problems and chronic pain.

"Miami was the obvious place to go," he told PainMonth, a trade publication for the industry. "In Miami, you can be anything you want. You can reinvent yourself over and over. Everyone's accepted here."

And Engel was quickly accepted, especially when he threw cash at charities, politicians and schools.

Medical acquaintances who asked not to be identified said Engel was an excellent clinician, but after a few years in South Florida, aspired to a higher level.

"He wanted the mansion and the cars and the women. He liked the flash of designer clothes and the cache of the red carpet at charity balls," said one doctor who had attended continuing education seminars with Engel over the years.

Engel found his riches in pills, federal agents say. With the blessing of pharmaceutical companies, he wrote hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for pain medication. Oxycontin, fentanyl, oxycodone — all substances to alleviate pain in the suffering, but also used by addicts for a cheap and powerful high.

Engels' empire grew as he opened more and more clinics. He purchased a historic Coral Gables estate for an eye-popping $29 million two years ago.

Until this week, he owned and operated a chain of twenty pain clinics in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, employing hundreds. All the clinics were shuttered last week by the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Sources calculated that his clinics sold more than 10 million oxycodone pills before the crackdown. Those pills created untold numbers of addicts and likely caused overdoses, officials asserted.

Customers paid in cash — sometimes upwards of $500 — to visit doctors on staff. The pills were dispensed from in-house pharmacies.

His prolific prescribing of pills meant he was a darling of pharmaceutical companies, who awarded him kickbacks of cash and luxury goods. They paid for trips abroad to luxury resorts, fishing charters, tickets to sporting events.

Engel is one of several so-called "pill mill doctors" in Florida that is under investigation.

"He was someone we had our eye on," confirmed Rex Miller, a DEA spokesman in Washington, D.C. "And not just because of his clinics."

Sources say Engel was also tangled with European drug traffickers, and may have provided pills to at least three different drug cartels. Experts say Engel would have made millions on such deals because the pills were straight from the companies, and not from shadowy private labs.

DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart added, "Rogue doctors who run these operations violate their professional oaths and are, in fact, drug dealers. Florida today is ground zero in the fight against pill mills, and we are determined to continue to aggressively pursue those who are responsible for this nationwide epidemic."

And despite being a legal drug dealer, Engel moved easily among Miami's rich and powerful. Over the years, he donated tens of thousands of dollars to U.S. Senator Charles Strouse. He often golfed with the Miami Police Chief, and a wing is named after him at the local community college.

Some acquaintances thought Engel was generous to a fault, and could always count on him to help an organization in need. If it wasn't for Engel and his money, people said, at least two Miami non-profits that worked with the disabled would have closed.

Others suspected something more perverse. Authorities noted that while greed isn't unusual in Miami, Engel's sexual appetite was.

Two days after Engel was discovered, bleeding in his home office, the Times received a thumb drive and a manila envelope of printed photos. The package was sent via courier, and there was no return address.

It was addressed simply to the newsroom, and when a Times editorial assistant opened it, she was shocked.

"There were actual, physical pictures. Photo after photo of some dude having sex with what looked like unconscious women," said Ella Dixon. "So gross. I was scarred for life just looking at like three photos. I can't imagine the rest."

The thumb drive contained hundreds of graphic photos and videos of a man in various sexual positions with different women. The man was identified by authorities as Engel. All of the women appeared to be unconscious.

Most troubling, some photos appeared to be of Engel sexually violating two corpses. It's unclear where any of the incidents took place.

Miami Police Spokesman Bill Cooke said his agency also received a similar thumb drive and packet of photos, as did the State Attorney's Office. None of the women have been identified, except one — a Miami Police sergeant's daughter.

"It's obviously a sensitive subject, and the officer would like privacy at this time," said Cooke.

A University of Miami psychologist told the Times that Engel could have a fetish for unconscious or sleeping women.

"It's called somnophilia," said Dr. Marcello Reyes. "The women, when they're unconscious or incapacitated, become an object. They're not a real person, with real feelings or desires, to people with that fetish. We don't know how prevalent somnophilia is, but we suspect it's quite rare."

Reyes said some research links somnophila to necrophilia, which is the sexual attraction to corpses.

Authorities at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office are investigating if Engel had ever visited the county morgue, and if so, the circumstances of his visits.

"So very creepy, isn't it?" said Engel's next door neighbor, Maria Villanueva. "You know, I've been to his estate on several occasions for parties, and he had the strangest art. Paintings of sleeping girls. I even told my husband after one night that he wasn't right in the head. It gives me chills to hear what he was into. I can't imagine. Those poor girls."

Engel's friends said in recent months, a particularly young female companion appeared on his arm at political fundraisers and parties. Her name was Juliette Phillips, an 18-year-old college student from Kendall.

The pair had gotten engaged recently.

"I think she was barely eighteen. A student at Miami-Dade College. Stunningly beautiful and shy as can be. Long, dark hair, sparkling eyes, a soft voice," said Saundra Domico. She and her husband attended a leukemia fundraiser in Bal Harbour last week and spoke with the couple at length that night. "It was jarring to see them together. He looked old enough to be her father, But, I figured, it's Miami."

Engel told Domico that Phillips was a pharmaceutical student at Miami-Dade College. They'd met at a school function, and he hoped she'd someday attend medical school.

"He seemed proud of her," said Domico. "Which I thought was a little perverse, a grown man being so enamored with a college girl. He also appeared very, very attentive to her, asking if she wanted water, or food. He acted more like her father. She was more introverted. She did show me her engagement ring. A huge rock."

Domico, who was interviewed at a coffee shop in Bel Harbour near where the soiree was held, paused.

"You know, now that I think about it, I don't believe that girl smiled once that evening."

Phillips' family couldn't be located. A search on social media accounts yielded little; her Facebook page had a lone public photo. It was of her and Engel, grinning for the camera. The picture appeared to have been taken on a yacht.

After Engel was discovered by an employee of his clinic — that employee wouldn't talk with the Times when reached by phone Sunday — authorities searched for Phillips. She lived in a South Beach high rise with another woman. That roommate told the Times that Phillips left Miami to look at wedding venues.

Miami detectives think Phillips was aboard the small jet that disappeared in Guatemala. They said it's possible she was looking at wedding locations in Central America.

"She was going to check out a wedding venue in Aruba. And Jamaica. She was going to visit several. Sebastian had the money for her to fly anywhere, do anything she wanted," said Phillips' roommate, who refused to give her name. "She said something about a resort in Central America or Mexico."

The woman, who began crying when talking to the Times, said she was too upset by the news of her friend to talk at length. "I'm devastated. I just found out about the plane from detectives. I'm in no shape to say any more."

Phillips isn't a suspect, officials stressed.

"Who wanted this guy dead? Who knows? There's a potential list as long as my arm," said Cooke, the police spokesman. "Women he'd raped, European drug dealers. The families of people who overdosed on his pills. We're even looking into whether he traded those morgue photos with others on the Dark Web.

"One thing's clear: we're glad this guy's no longer in circulation. He was a sick, sick man who didn't hesitate to exploit others for monetary gain or sexual pleasure."

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