Lava
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what the heck is going on down there in Florida?
It never stops. Day after day...
Thank goodness Florida has the death penalty.
According to the Broward Sheriffs Office, Janus Saintil, 24, of Deerfield Beach, killed his son Josiah Saintil when he put the child in the trunk of a stolen car while the baby was still strapped into his car seat, then covered him with a diaper bag and blanket.
Saintil, the babys body, and the stolen car were all found in Coral Springs on Friday hours after an Amber Alert was issued for the child.
Saintil has also been charged with Armed Carjacking, Armed Kidnapping, Aggravated Battery with a deadly weapon and a pre-existing Armed Robbery arrest.
CBS4 News has also learned that Santil may have killed his son because the babys mother, Claudia Harriot, broke up with him on Thursday.
According to the police report, Saintil was with Harriot, Marissa Murray, Andrew Pennant and the baby in the parking lot of a North Lauderdale Walmart on Thursday night. While inside a black Kia, Saintil and Harriot got into an argument over their relationship.
Saintil, said police, pulled a gun and threatened everyone in the car.
CBS4s Tiffani Helberg spoke to 22-year-old Marissa Murray.
I was just praying and I was just cooperating and I didnt want to make any sudden moves cause I felt like he was in all our heads, said Murray as she recounted the horrifying ordeal. He must have lost it or something. I dont know what went on in his mind. He pulled out a gun and held us hostage.
BSO detectives said Saintil ordered Murray to drive to a home in Port St. Lucie.
He told me Whatever I do just keep driving or Ill kill you all and he pistol whipped Andrew. Thats when we realized this is real.
She said throughout the course of the long drive up I-95, Saintil beat Pennant with his gun and did the same to his former girlfriend, the babys mother Claudia Harriot.
He would tell me to turn up the music so he could beat up on Claudia in the back and we couldnt hear anything, said Murray.
She said while she drove, she watched the ordeal unfold through the rear view mirror. Eventually, Saintil ordered her to stop at a home in Port St. Lucie.
When we got to the first house he said, Dont go anywhere Im not done with you all and he took the keys from the car and he took the baby in the house and he came back, said Murray.
Without the baby, the drive continued.
There were songs he would play, but it was like messages to us like telling us what he was gonna do, like he told us he was gonna make the news and told us that were all gonna die.
The group drove to another house then ultimately to a Hess Gas station where he ordered Pennant to withdraw cash from an ATM.
He told Andrew, Im gonna get out with you and at that moment thats when Andrew said Im done Im not doing that Im not giving you no money.
After he refused, Pennant yelled for help, which prompted Saintil to take off in the black, four-door Kia Spectra, which belonged to Murrays mother.
Before he left, however, he told Harriot that he was going to kill their baby, according to the police report.
He told my brother, he told me, that he said the devil was after his child like the devil wanted his child and I guess he had to sacrifice his child, said Murray.
Alone in the car, police said, Saintil drove back to the first house, picked up Josiah, then drove back to Broward County.
Late Friday morning, an Amber Alert was issued for Josiah. State officials said in the alert that Saintil was armed and dangerous and had a lengthy criminal history and an outstanding warrant for Armed Robbery.
BSO said Coral Springs Police developed information along with the U.S. Marshals Service that Saintil might be headed to an apartment complex at 11000 Royal Palm Boulevard in Coral Springs.
Shortly after 3:00 p.m., he arrived and parked right next to a police officer who was looking for him.
Investigators say Saintil was arrested without incident.
Dead Baby In Trunk Was In Car Seat, Dad Denied Bond
The body of Josiah Saintil was found in the trunk of this car in Coral Springs on Friday, June 1, 2012 just one day after an Amber Alert was issued when he was kidnapped by his father, according to Coral Springs police. His father, Janus Saintil, is in police custody. (CBS4)
By the time that he opened the door he didnt have a chance to do anything, said Coral Springs Police Chief Tony Tustizzi. Thank God he didnt fight.
The officer searched the car and discovered little Josiahs body in the trunk underneath a diaper bag and blanket. Josiah was still strapped into his car seat.
A loaded gun was also found in the car, states the police report.
A woman, Talia Rodriguez, was with Saintil in the car and taken into custody for questioning.
She told police, states the report, Saintil showed up at her apartment late Thursday night. She stated he was very emotional and they sat in the car for about a half hour talking about their relationship. She said Josiah was in the car and she was playing with the baby.
Rodriguez told police Saintil left around 12:30 a.m. with Josiah but returned a half hour later and spent the night in her apartment. Josiah was not with him when he returned, she told police.
Police believe Saintil simply put the baby in the trunk of the car of the car while in his car seat where he died.
Rodriguez even drove in the car with Saintil on Friday afternoon and told police she did not know the baby was in the trunk.
The Broward County Medical Examiner took the childs body to perform an autopsy and determine how the child died.
BSO said Josiahs cause of death is pending, but it was ruled a homicide.
It was almost like this baby was carelessly discarded inside the trunk, said Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti. Total lack of respect for the babys life. Very tragic and if youre a parent its got to tug at your heartstrings.
Josiahs mother was also taken in for questioning but investigators say she was a victim in all this.
People who witnessed the crime scene unfold right across from their homes said Harriotts heart must be broken.
Coral Springs police found the body of Josiah Saintil strapped in a car seat beneath a diaper bag and a blanket in the trunk of a stolen 2008 Kia sedan at around 3 p.m., The Palm Beach Post reported.
Police said Janus Saintil, 24, left the boy to die after kidnapping him from his mother, who is Saintil's ex-girlfriend.
Saintil kidnapped the boy, along with the mother, Claudia Harriot, 22, a man and a woman at gunpoint around 7 p.m. on Thursday, police said.
"While fleeing, Janus Saintil told [the babys mother\] that he was going to 'kill' their 2-month-old baby," police said, according the Post.
He then picked up the baby from the Port St. Lucie home and drove to the Coral Springs apartment of Talia Rodriguez, 18, the Post reported.
Rodriguez told police she played with the baby inside the car late Thursday night.
She said Saintil left for around 30 minutes and returned at around 1 a.m. without the child.
Cops believed Saintil left the boy in the trunk before spending the night at Rodriguez's apartment.
Authorities were awaiting the results of an autopsy performed on Saturday to determine how the boy died.
Janus Saintil, 27, was convicted of second-degree murder Thursday after a jury deliberated for more than 10 hours over two days.
Saintil was acquitted of kidnapping the baby, but convicted on a slew of other charges that guarantee a life sentence, including the armed kidnapping and robbery of the baby's mother, Claudia Harriott, and two of her friends on May 31, 2012. According to prosecutors, Saintil pointed a gun at one friend, Marissa Murray, and ordered her to drive him from a North Lauderdale Wal-Mart to Port St. Lucie.
After deliberating an hour Tuesday, jurors asked Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes whether Saintil had custody of the eight-week-old boy. He didn't, but it was a question Holmes could not legally answer — jurors are required to rely on their memory of the evidence presented at trial. They could ask for a witness' testimony to be read back to them, but they could not get answers to questions that were not asked.
That could explain Saintil's minor victories — the acquittal on the kidnapping charge and the conviction of second-degree murder rather than first-degree.