MEDIA ARTICLE: Sheriff puts 7 deputies on leave, saying 3 killings stemmed from ‘piss poor’ domestic violence probe (CNN US, 2-20-25)

Sheriff puts 7 deputies on leave, saying 3 killings stemmed from ‘piss poor’ domestic violence probe

Feb 20, 2025

ByHanna Park,Dakin Andone

Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony speaks during a press conference.

WPLG

A South Florida sheriff delivered a blistering rebuke of his own deputies this week, saying his department “failed” in its handling of a lengthy domestic violence case that he says culminated in a triple homicide.

Seven deputies have been placed on leave with pay, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office told CNN, as it investigates what Sheriff Gregory Tony described Wednesday as “shortcomings” leading to last weekend’s killings, in which a man is accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife, her father and a neighbor in the city of Tamarac.

Tony decried deputies’ “piss poor performance” and “bullsh*t work,” telling reporters they failed to take appropriate action after domestic violence calls related to the couple last year, and that the wife in December repeatedly told a deputy she was afraid her husband would kill her. 

Deputies “could have potentially pursued” an arrest of the man then, but didn’t, he said.

“There will be people that will lose their job over this,” Tony said in a Wednesday news conference, “and I’m focused on making sure they don’t win a damn arbitration, because that happens too repeatedly in this profession.”

Nathan Gingles, 43, is accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife Mary Gingles, 34; her father, David Ponzer, 64; and her neighbor Andrew Ferrin, 36, on Sunday morning at two homes in Tamarac, near Fort Lauderdale, according to the sheriff’s office.

Nathan Gingles also is accused of kidnapping his and Mary’s 4-year-old daughter as he carried out the killings, authorities said. 

Following a statewide Amber Alert issued for the child, investigators found him and the girl late that morning outside a store in nearby North Lauderdale, and he was arrested, authorities said.

Nathan Gingles was being held on a slew of charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, a count of violating a domestic violence protection injunction, and a count of interference with lawful custody. He was being held without bond at the Broward County jail, online records showed Thursday.

His case has been provisionally appointed to the county’s public defender’s office, according to court records. CNN has sought comment from the public defender’s office, as well as from an attorney listed in court records as having represented in the case accusing him of domestic violence.

The deaths are “on my watch,” Tony told reporters at the news conference, adding, “We could have done better — and we didn’t.”

In a release, the Broward Deputy Sheriffs Association – the union representing Broward deputies – said “it is still very early in the investigation regarding the tragic murders in Tamarac,” and described the deputies’ leave “as a matter of internal protocol.”

“We believe in due process, and we await the facts which will be revealed by a full investigation,” union Vice President Dan Rakofsky said. “Furthermore, we are confident that the Broward Sheriff’s Office will be thorough and complete throughout the process.”

‘Dozens’ of calls preceded killings, sheriff says

Court records indicate Nathan and Mary Gingles were involved in a divorce case dating from February 2024, in addition to two domestic violence cases, one of which concluded in July.

Court records also indicate Mary Gingles had sought a restraining order against her estranged husband. 

These documents were marked confidential and were not fully accessible online Thursday. 

The office of the county clerk of courts did not respond to a request about the documents after initially directing CNN to the online records.

According to his arrest warrant in Sunday’s killings, deputies exploring one of the shooting scenes found a court order prohibiting Nathan Gingles from contacting two people – someone whose name is redacted, and “their daughter.”

More should have been done considering a history of reports relating to allegations of domestic violence involving the couple, the sheriff said Wednesday.

“Dozens of calls for services” involving the couple had been made “over a span of a couple years,” said Tony, who characterized the calls as “one conflict after the next, whether the husband’s reporting the wife, now she’s reporting him, and so on.”

Deputies failed to take appropriate action specifically after domestic violence calls in October and December, Tony said, though he provided few details about what prompted those calls and how deputies responded.

Nathan Gingles

Broward County Sheriff's Office

“From my assessment, this is really just a shortcoming of performance,” Tony said about an October call, “whether it be complacency, not taking a greater interest and not doing their due diligence to make sure that they’re documenting everything in an accurate manner, so that when it does arrive in the investigator’s hand, they have a comprehensive report that allows them to make better judgment and decisions.”

Tony pointed specifically to a December incident. In that situation, Tony said, Mary Gingles repeatedly expressed fears for her life to a responding deputy.

“The totality of times that she had made (statements) related to ‘I fear he’s going to kill me’ … there was enough there that we could’ve potentially pursued a probable cause affidavit so we could arrest him and take him off the street,” Tony said. “And that didn’t happen.”

The case was eventually escalated to a district detective, but critical time had already been lost due to “a multitude of shortcomings,” Tony said.

“We fell short on this one,” Tony said.

4-year-old girl witnessed killings, warrant says

On Sunday, Broward County sheriff’s deputies went to a Tamarac home just after 6 a.m., according to an arrest warrant for Nathan Gingles, after a 911 caller reported hearing the sound of gunfire and a woman crying and screaming, “Oh my God!” from a nearby home. The caller then heard two more gunshots, the warrant says.

“The totality of times that she had made (statements) related to ‘I fear he’s going to kill me’ … there was enough there that we could’ve potentially pursued a probable cause affidavit so we could arrest him and take him off the street,” Tony said. “And that didn’t happen.”

The case was eventually escalated to a district detective, but critical time had already been lost due to “a multitude of shortcomings,” Tony said.

“We fell short on this one,” Tony said.

4-year-old girl witnessed killings, warrant says

On Sunday, Broward County sheriff’s deputies went to a Tamarac home just after 6 a.m., according to an arrest warrant for Nathan Gingles, after a 911 caller reported hearing the sound of gunfire and a woman crying and screaming, “Oh my God!” from a nearby home. The caller then heard two more gunshots, the warrant says.

Deputies found Ponzer – Mary Gingles’ father – lying in the home’s backyard with a gunshot wound, according to the warrant and a news release from the sheriff’s office. He was declared dead at the scene, the warrant says. Inside the home, deputies found gun lockboxes that appeared to be unlocked, as well as the restraining order with Nathan Gingles’ name.

As deputies searched the area, one noticed a man wearing all black clothing, walking with a child. The information was broadcast over police radio, but deputies continued their search, not yet knowing what had unfolded, the warrant says.

Outside, a neighbor told deputies he was woken up around 6:07 a.m. to the “sound of loud banging on his front door,” the warrant says. In surveillance footage captured outside his home, he saw a woman – his neighbor – running to the door and knocking on it frantically, followed seconds later by a person wearing all black with what appeared to be a firearm and a small girl following behind. The woman then fled.

Deputies found Mary Gingles dead inside another home, where they also located Ferrin, according to the news release. Investigators believe Mary Gingles fled into the home and was followed by Nathan Gingles, authorities allege he shot his wife and the “innocent and unsuspecting resident,” according to the warrant.

A background search of Nathan Gingles led deputies to an apartment he was renting in nearby Lauderhill, where he had registered a vehicle with a Texas license plate, the warrant says. That vehicle was later located in the parking lot of a Walmart, where Gingles was found with his daughter and taken into custody, according to the warrant.

Detectives determined the 4-year-old girl witnessed the killings and saw her father dispose of his gun in a black backpack, which he threw into a trashcan, the warrant says. The weapon and backpack have not been recovered, according to the warrant. The girl also said her father told her they were going to visit her cousin in Texas, and that she would never see her mother or grandfather again, the document says.

Nathan Gingles had previously surrendered firearms and ammunition as part of the terms ordered by the restraining order, the warrant says, citing a February 2024 incident report. The weapons were later returned to him, per the warrant.

Asked why the seized firearms were returned, Tony said deputies were legally required to do so due to court proceedings. Part of the current investigation will focus on whether the guns should have been taken a second time, he said, following additional domestic violence calls to police.

He apologized to the victims’ families, saying the preliminary findings about authorities’ failures “only hurts them even more” after their loss.

“Because I’m basically saying we had a chance to save your loved one’s life and we failed,” the sheriff said.

CNN’s Chenelle Woody contributed to this report.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/us/tamarac-florida-triple-homicide-deputies

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MEDIA ARTICLE: Florida Lawmakers Target 'Negligent' DCF With Record $70 Million in Claims Bills (The Floridian Press, 8-27-24)

 

Florida Lawmakers Target 'Negligent' DCF With Record $70 Million in Claims Bills

Liv Caputo

August 27, 2024

TALLAHASSEE, FL—As Florida lawmakers gear up for the 2025 legislative session in March, the Department of Children and Families' alleged child endangerment will be at the forefront of discussions, with a whopping five of 17 filed claims bills targeting the agency.

Almost $70 million from the state is demanded in these bills.

Breaking a record, this is the first time since DCF's creation in 1996 that it's the subject of more than three claims bills in one year. For 2025, it's the headliner for five—an unfortunately natural progression for the heavily-criticized department, whose call center has the second-longest wait times in the country with up to 48% of calls getting abandoned, Florida Politics reported.

Now, Republican Senators Ana Maria Rodriguez, Joe Gruters, and Alexis Calatayud are trying to approve a staggering $67,023,040 from the General Revenue Fund to be divvied out among five different families via claims bills, which are designed to compensate Floridians harmed by state agencies.

These claims bills are the first and currently only bills of the session, having been filed by the August 1 deadline.

SB 2, the first filed bill of the session, by Miami's Sen. Rodriguez asks that $20 million be appropriated from the state for the relief of C.C., a Fort Myers boy born in 2014 to Anna Highland, a registered foster parent with DCF. In the seven months before and directly after his birth, six complaints were filed alleging that Highland was abusing drugs and a child she was fostering.

DCF still allowed C.C. to leave the hospital with Highland. Two more complaints were filed—both of which were dismissed without investigation—in the following months. At 13 months old, C.C. overdosed on his mother's methadone, was hospitalized for a month, and now, at 9 years old, suffers seizures, strokes, and cognitive impairment, among other things.

Rodriguez seeks to appropriate $20 million from the General Revenue Fund to DCF for the relief of C.C. This is her third time attempting to get the bill over the finish line.

Gruters, who filed two DCF-related claims bills, is trying to allocate a massive $28 million in SB 12 for Sarasota six-year-old L.P. after her mother tried to disembowel her. This happened after family members requested a wellness check on the unnamed mother, who sent a suicide video to relatives.

DCF said L.P. was safe.

Hours later, she was stabbed 14 times. It's estimated that she will incur medical and "psychological costs" for the next 65 years of her life. After a jury found DCF negligent in 2022, they awarded L.P. and her grandparents—her current guardians—$28 million.

In SB 18, also by Gruters, he asks that $14,926,640 be approved for H.H. When the girl was 18 months old, DCF investigated their first child abuse complaint, which alleged that the mother and stepfather were abusing drugs, selling drugs, and "harboring a fugitive". DCF found that the stepfather had been released from the correctional system just seven months prior, had only been seeing the mother for four months, and had been involved in at least 35 criminal issues in ten years.

Even though the stepfather refused to submit to a drug test and the mother tested positive for marijuana, DCF decided H.H. was in "no present danger." This was after they had received a second child abuse complaint, which they did not properly investigate, the bill says.

Two months after the investigation was closed, H.H. was admitted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and stayed there for 109 days. Now, she can't walk, talk, eat, or sit up.

Sen. Calatayud, who also filed two DCF-related bills, asks in SB 32 that the General Revenue Fund provide $3.8 million to L.E., who tested positive for amphetamines at birth. Two child abuse complaints were filed shortly after her birth—not including the fact that L.E.'s parents got into a "violent altercation" at the hospital the day of her birth—causing DCF to initiate an investigation.

Not only did they discover her mother's drug and criminal history, but both parents had a collective 20 DCF complaints against them in the past. For example: the father fractured his 6-month-old daughter's bones, and that child was removed from his custody. Two of the mother's children had been removed due to "verified child abuse".

DCF found a "present danger" if L.E. stayed with her parents, choosing to place her with the mother's friend. Soon after, the friend told DCF she could not care for L.E., so DCF shockingly put the baby back into her parents' custody.

A month later, L.E. was brought to the hospital—she was seizing, bloodied, and bruised. She was later diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome and malnourishment.

The final DCF claims bill, Calatayud's SB 34, aims to compensate Michael Barnett, the parent of R.B., with $296,400. A man named Patrick Dell was arrested in 2009 for threatening his estranged wife Natasha Whyte-Dell with a knife; he told her he would kill her and ended up flattening her tires.

DCF was notified because Whyte-Dell lived with her five children. They found no "significant risk of harm"—though allegedly were not aware of the 34 times the police department had been called out to the home. Less than a year later, Dell fatally shot Whyte-Dell and four of the children, wounding the fifth by shooting him in the neck.

Dell committed suicide shortly after.

Now, Calatayud is looking to secure Barnett, the father of the fifth child, compensation for DCF's negligence. This is the second attempt to get this bill passed.

With this onslaught of appropriation requests, it remains to be seen if questions on DCF's effectiveness will be raised as the session draws closer. They could not be reached for comment.

https://floridianpress.com/2024/08/florida-lawmakers-target-negligent-dcf-with-record-70-million-in-claims-bills/

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MEDIA ARTICLE: A 2-year-old girl was killed by her father, police say, despite warnings about violence. What went wrong? (Sun Sentinel PUBLISHED: May 31, 2024 at 7:00 AM EDT)

A 2-year-old girl was killed by her father, police say, despite warnings about violence. 

What went wrong?

Mike Stocker / Sun Sentinel

The Broward County Judicial Complex in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

By Shira Moolten | smoolten@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel

PUBLISHED: May 31, 2024 at 7:00 AM EDT | UPDATED: May 31, 2024 at 10:39 AM EDT

The mother had tried to keep her 2-year-old daughter safe. She told the court in a motion last year that her daughter should not be left in her father’s care unsupervised. That he had been involuntarily committed several times, reported hearing voices, chased her through their Pembroke Pines house, abused the family dog and punched inanimate objects.

But somewhere along the way, those concerns fell aside. Months after the mother raised her initial concerns, the parents’ lawyers submitted an agreed-upon timesharing plan that a Broward judge approved. The girl would stay with Jeronimo Duran, 33, unsupervised, every other weekend and one night per week. When she entered school, parenting would become 50-50.

Then, on Tuesday morning, police say, Duran cut the throat of his 2-year-old daughter inside the same Pembroke Pines home while she was visiting him as part of her parents’ timesharing plan. Even as more details come to light about what took place that morning, it remains unclear why the girl ended up alone with him despite all of the efforts to avoid that scenario. Neither the child’s mother nor attorneys for either parent have responded to requests for comment.

“Unfortunately, in this case for a multitude of reasons, you’re looking at irreversible tragedy that I do believe is preventable,” said Michael Grieco, a defense attorney and former state congressman from Miami Beach who helped sponsor one of the earlier iterations of “Greyson’s Law,” formed in response to another child’s death at the hands of his father. “I don’t know if it was preventable legislatively. If it was preventable in the courtroom. If it was preventable among the attorneys involved. But there clearly was not enough advocacy on behalf of the little girl, and that’s the problem.”

On Tuesday morning, about 9:30 a.m., Duran’s grandmother returned home to find him on top of his daughter. She called 911, telling the call taker in Spanish to send someone quickly. The girl was pale and not reacting, she said frantically, according to a recording of the call released by police on Thursday. Police later said she was bleeding profusely from her neck, which Duran had lacerated. Paramedics took the girl to the hospital, where she later died. Duran is now facing charges of first-degree murder while engaged in child abuse and aggravated child abuse.

Jeronimo Duran, 33, is facing charges of murder while engaged in child abuse and aggravated child abuse in the violent death of his daughter, court records show. (Broward Sheriff's Office/Courtesy)

A similar tragedy, also described as preventable, had unfolded in Broward almost exactly three years ago to the day in May 2021. Alison Kessler was receiving threats from the father of her 4-year-old son, Greyson. He had tracked her with a device and knew she went to the Broward courthouse seeking an injunction against him.

“You have created ginormous amount of problems for me,” he said in one message. “I was never angry before I met you.”

Another read, “you deserve to have your head separated from your body. But I am not the violent type. God will deal with you.”

Kessler knew Greyson was in trouble. She spoke to the police and sought permission to pick up her son in an emergency court filing. But when police finally arrived at the father’s apartment, it was too late. Greyson’s father had killed his son and then himself in a murder-suicide. A day later, the judge denied her motion.

Kessler had just heard the news of the 2-year-old girl’s death days after the anniversary of Greyson’s.

“My reaction was, I can’t believe this is happening again,” she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday. “And I can’t believe our judicial system is so flawed.”

After Greyson died, Kessler threw herself into activism, fighting for the next two years to get a bill passed that would prevent situations like hers from happening again.

A watered-down version of “Greyson’s Law” went into effect in July 2023. It requires that judges weigh more factors in determining parental custody or timesharing, particularly any reasonable fear raised by a parent that their child is or has been in “imminent danger” of domestic violence, abuse or neglect. It also broadens the definition of domestic violence, including whether someone has “engaged in a pattern of abusive, threatening, intimidating, or controlling behavior composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short.”

Such a definition could describe the behavior of Duran, particularly his chasing of the girl’s mother and his punching of walls, a fan, and the family dog, according to allegations the mother made in court filings last year. Police had responded to the home twice last year, records show, though it is unclear whether those calls had to do with domestic violence. Public records requests for police reports about Duran and the incidents at the home were not fulfilled Thursday.

Another red flag detailed in the court motion was Duran’s history of serious mental health issues, which some say should have given the mother’s fears more legal credence. Based on the mother’s court filing, he had been Baker Acted, or involuntarily committed, five times and reported hearing voices telling him to kill himself, including when his daughter was home. She wrote that he was not taking medication and was self-medicating with drugs instead. Duran later denied those claims but admitted he suffered from an unspecified mental illness for which he was receiving treatment.

“When you have multiple Baker Acts, now it’s memorialized that you clearly have a history of mental health issues that require involuntary hospitalization,” Grieco said. “Then the allegations in the court filings hold a lot more water than if they’re just a bunch of unprovable allegations.”

The mother had previously asked for a psychological evaluation of Duran, a guardian ad litem, full custody, and for her child not to visit him unsupervised.

“His behavior is erratic, aggressive, violent and dangerous to the mother and the minor child,” her court filing read.

But in March of this year, the parents signed a timesharing plan that looked drastically different from what the mother had previously wanted, and Broward Circuit Judge Kristin Kanner approved it. Kanner did not respond to an email late Thursday afternoon and her office redirected inquiries to the court administrator, who did not return a voicemail.

Rod Stafford Hagwood / South Florida Sun Sentinel

Alison Kessler in front of the tree in Plantation's Deicke Park dedicated to her son Greyson Kessler. The 4-year-old was slain by his father in a murder-suicide in 2021. Kessler has become an activist for Greyson's Law to protect children in danger of parental harm. (Rod Stafford Hagwood/South Florida Sun Sentinel file)

“I don’t know what happened, why the mother agreed to the parenting plan,” said State Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, who sponsored the bill that became Greyson’s Law in 2022 and 2023. “I will never second-guess a parent in that situation. I will never place any blame against a parent in that situation. But I’m very sad the end result was the loss of this child’s life, and that Greyson’s Law, despite what we did, didn’t end up saving this child.”

Many parents are not educated on Greyson’s Law or other rights they may have in domestic situations. Often they are under immense pressure to resolve the dispute, both financially and legally. Kessler said that in her own custody case, she felt that she had to reach an agreement with Greyson’s father during mediation or else the judge would deem her uncooperative.

“We don’t have a choice,” she said. “Unless we want to risk our child getting taken away by the judge because we’re not cooperating. You have to reach an agreement in mediation.”

Money can also become a deciding factor. Many people do not have the resources for prolonged litigation, Grieco said. Oftentimes, victims are financially dependent on their abusers. The mother in Duran’s case, a veterinary tech at the time whose most valuable assets were her car and an $800 mattress, wrote in her court filing that he had a better ability to pay for child support and that she “definitely has a need.”

Experts agree that tragedies like this are happening far too often. In March, a 2-year-old boy and his mother were found dead in a home in Plantation, where Kessler lives. The father attempted suicide but survived and is now charged with first-degree murder.

“It’s happening at an alarming rate,” Kessler said. Every day she is contacted by parents who need help or advice. Some say that citing Greyson’s Law helped them save their own child.

Berman said further education on the law could help more parents. Grieco thinks one possible solution would be to appoint guardian ad litems in any case where a parent shows severe mental health issues. Kessler is still fighting for more police intervention and for the legal system to better understand all forms of domestic abuse in the first place.

“It’s really hard to prove domestic violence when you don’t have physical scars,” she said.

Shira Moolten can be reached at smoolten@sunsentinel.com or 754-971-0636.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2024/05/31/a-2-year-old-girl-was-killed-by-her-father-police-say-despite-warnings-about-violence-what-went-wrong/?clearUserState=true

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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

Pembroke Pines Police Sgt. Jason Palant discusses the arrest of a man facing murder charges after his 2-year-old daughter died with her throat slashed. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

By Shira Moolten | smoolten@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel

PUBLISHED: May 29, 2024 at 1:45 PM EDT | UPDATED: May 29, 2024 at 5:31 PM EDT

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.”

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