Bloodcurdling screams erupted as paramedics rushed to save a toddler after her father allegedly cut her throat and left her to die.
Jerónimo Duran is charged with the first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse of his two-year-old daughter, Melody Alana Rose Duran.
Cameras at a neighbor’s house caught Duran taking the little girl into his home in Pembroke Pines, south of Miami, on Tuesday morning, the footage obtained by NBC6 shows.
Duran, 33, left the house at 7:08 am to pick Melody up from her mother Mona Rosita Clarke’s house and returned at 7:24 am.
Jerónimo Duran is accused of murdering his two-year-old daughter, Melody Alana Rose Duran. They are pictured with the girl’s mother, Mona Rosita Clarke
Anguished screaming could be heard on footage from a neighbor’s cameras coming from the house as paramedics arrived and rushed Melody to hospital
The accused killer father got out of the car and slowly wandered around to the other side, seemingly distracted and lost in thought.
Melody’s grandmother Hilda Carballo arrived at 9:32 am in her gray SUV and walked inside the house to what she said was a distressing scene.
Carballo allegedly saw Duran ‘on top of’ Melody and ‘noticed that the child did not appear to be breathing,’ police said.
She called 911 in a panic, saying ‘an ambulance is what I need, fast.’
‘I will send the ambulance, but I need to know what’s going on,’ one dispatcher replied.
‘I think the girl is unconscious. I don’t know what is going on. The girl is pale and not reacting,’ the grandmother said in Spanish.
Another radioed paramedics to ‘advise she’s pale and not reacting.’
When Duran arrived home with Melody, he got out of the car and slowly wandered around to the other side, seemingly distracted and lost in thought
Melody’s grandmother Hilda Carballo arrived at 9:32 am in her gray SUV and walked inside the house to what she said was a distressing scene
The neighbor’s cameras filmed a black Mercedes sedan quickly pulling up to the house at 9:44 am and Jorge Carballo, Duran’s stepfather, sprinting to the door.
He gave Melody CPR while he and Hilda Carballo waited for the ambulance to arrive about three minutes later.
Anguished screaming could be heard on the footage coming from the house.
Police and paramedics found Melody’s throat slashed and rushed her to hospital, but she did not survive.
Officers found a bloodied knife nearby and arrested Duran.
‘Detectives were able to establish probable cause to charge him with first-degree murder,’ Pembroke Pines Police Sergeant Jason Palant said.
The neighbor’s cameras filmed a black Mercedes sedan quickly pulling up to the house at 9:44 am and Jorge Carballo, Duran’s stepfather, sprinting to the door
By May last year, Clarke had filed a motion for full custody of Melody that detailed Duran’s frightening mental breakdown. She asked for supervised visits for Duran, but the court let have him unsupervised visits – and he allegedly killed her during one
‘He was questioned by detectives, he spoke with detectives, and through his statement, it helped establish probable cause for his arrest.
‘However, we don’t have a motive at this time.’
Duran and Clarke were together for about 10 years before they separated last year.
Clarke captioned their first photo together on April 21, 2014, ‘He is the reason for my happiness. I love my lion.’
Other photos show them dancing a costume party dressed as a banana and a fairytale princess, and celebrating Clarke’s pregnancy in 2021.
Melody was born in November 2021, and the couple appeared overjoyed to become parents for the first time.
The couple were together 10 years. Clarke captioned this first photo of them together on April 21, 2014, ‘He is the reason for my happiness. I love my lion.’
Melody was born in November 2021, and the couple appeared overjoyed to become parents for the first time
But by May last year, Clarke had filed a motion for full custody of Melody that detailed Duran’s frightening mental breakdown.
‘The father suffers from mental illness… paranoia and anger issues (punching the wall),’ it read.
‘He also suffers from anxiety and… his behavior is erratic, aggressive, violent and dangerous to the mother and the minor child.
‘The father has abused the family dog (punched it in the face)… the father has suicidal ideations and has a history of hearing voice to end his life.’
The document Duran ‘chased the mother into a bedroom with the child in her arms and punched a fan’.
Clarke’s motion also claimed he ‘abused the family dog, punching it in the face’.
Duran was charged with the first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse
Police block off the scene in Pembroke Pines, south of Miami
She asked that Duran have a psychological evaluation as he was ‘hearing voices to end his life, some while the child was with him alone.’
Clarke wanted Duran to take an eight-week parenting course and for a guardian ad litem to be appointed by the court for Melody to help with supervised visits.
However, the court in March granted Duran unsupervised visits, and he allegedly killed her during one of them on Tuesday.
Duran faced court on Thursday, wearing a protective vest to precent self-harm, where he was ordered to be held without bail at the Broward County Jail.
Palant said Duran could face additional charges as the investigation progresses.
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