MEDIA ARTICLE: 2-year-old girl killed by father at Pembroke Pines home, police say (Sun Sentinel, 5-29-24)
2-year-old girl killed by father at Pembroke Pines home, police say
Woman sought to keep her daughter from him, court records show
Editor’s note: Some details in this article may be disturbing to readers.
A 2-year-old girl died after her throat was lacerated by her father in his Pembroke Pines home Tuesday morning, officials say.
Jeronimo Duran, 33, is now facing charges of murder while engaged in child abuse and aggravated child abuse, court records show.
He had anger issues and displayed erratic behavior, punching walls and even the family dog, according to a recent court case involving the same home in which the mother of his 2-year-old daughter had sought to keep the girl from visiting him unsupervised.
The two had moved out of the home over a year ago, but in March, Duran and the mother entered into a parenting plan in which the girl was required to visit him.
Police did not confirm that the identity of the girl is the same as the one who died, nor did they speak on Wednesday about the prior allegations involving Duran.
The 2-year-old girl was visiting Duran as part of a parenting plan Tuesday morning when his grandmother, who lived in the home on Southwest 177th Avenue, returned to find him on top of his daughter, attacking her, Sgt. Jason Palant said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Pembroke Pines Police and Fire Rescue arrived at the home a little after 9:30 a.m., where they found the girl “bleeding profusely from her neck,” according to a media release.
Paramedics took the girl to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A knife was found at the home and was used in the attack, Palant said.
By the time officers had arrived, Duran had gotten off of his daughter and was in the corner of the kitchen, Palant said. He had no injuries of his own.
Later, he gave a statement to detectives that helped them develop probable cause to arrest him.
For months, the mother sought to keep the girl away from Duran, saying he had anger issues and abused the family dog, according to court records.
In March 2023, she and her daughter had moved out of the home that they had shared with Duran and his grandmother.
In April 2023, Duran filed a petition seeking shared parental responsibility over his daughter, who was born in November 2021.
He and the girl’s mother had been in a committed relationship since 2013, the petition states. Duran “has a close and loving relationship with his daughter and is emotionally, physically, and financially supportive and devoted to the child,” it read.
But the child’s mother contested his claims. She filed a motion requiring that Duran be drug tested, psychologically evaluated, and take an eight-week parenting course, and also asked for a guardian ad litem to be appointed to determine the best course of action for the daughter.
She asked that their daughter live with her fulltime and visit Duran only while supervised.
The two had been in an on-and-off relationship over the last 10 years, according to the motion. Pictures on social media show a happy couple: the mother, pregnant, while Duran touches her belly, or the two of them at the beach with their daughter in a floppy pink hat. In the mother’s profile picture, she holds her daughter in her lap and smiles. Her daughter’s mouth is open, as if laughing.
But Duran suffered from anger issues and paranoia, the motion said, including punching household objects. He once punched the family dog in the face while his daughter, 4 months old at the time, was asleep.
“This was after he chased the Mother into the bedroom with the child in her arms and punched a fan which bounced off the television and barely missed the dog,” the motion continued. “The dog is terrified of the Father.”
Duran also had suicidal thoughts and heard voices telling him to end his life, the motion said. He had been detained under the Baker Act five times, an involuntary psychological hold placed on someone who poses a threat to themselves or other people.
Ultimately, in March, Duran and the girl’s mother agreed to a parenting plan in which his daughter stayed with him, unsupervised, every other weekend and overnight once a week.
When she began school, they would have shared an equal number of overnight visits.
It is unclear what led to the agreement considering the concerns listed in the court document. The mother did not return a voicemail Wednesday. Her attorney did not respond to emails or calls at her office. An attorney for Duran also did not return an email.
“It’s a very tragic incident and our hearts go out to the family of the victim,” Palant said Wednesday. “At this time we’re just focused on being able to provide justice to the family.”
Comments
Post a Comment