No Bond For Carmen Barahona
MIAMI (CBS4) - The South Miami-Dade woman charged in the death of her adopted daughter and torture of her adopted son made her first appearance before a judge on Sunday.
Carmen Barahona, 60, who was arrested Saturday, was ordered to be held held without bond on a charged of first degree murder in the death of her 10-year old adopted daughter Nubia. She's also facing seven counts aggravated child abuse and seven counts of child neglect. During the hearing the judge also set a bond amount of $50 thousand for each count of aggravated child abuse and $7,500 for each count of neglect.
Her husband Jorge Barahona is in jail in Palm Beach County also being held without bond. He's been charged with murder in the death of Nubia and child abuse of Nubia's twin brother Victor. More information on charges faced will be disclosed in a Monday afternoon press conference.
The shocking case of child abuse began to unfold Valentine's Day when a road ranger found the grisly scene alongside Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County. Jorge Barahona lay outside the truck doused in a chemical, Victor in the front seat doused in chemicals and barely alive. The body of Nubia was found in the back of the truck stuffed into a plastic bag.
Late last week, the murder case against Nubia was transferred to Miami-Dade from Palm Beach County, after investigators determined she had been killed in Miami-Dade.
CBS4 reporter Gio Benitez said a law enforcement source revealed that the autopsy found Nubia died from "blunt force trauma" and that her chest was caved in. "It was as if someone had stomped on her," according to the source.
Miami-Dade homicide investigators have been examining the Barahona home in Southwest Miami-Dade, at one point opening a septic tank on the property and removing material, at another, removing a bathtub from the home.
A 7 year old relative claimed to a therapist that she saw Nubia and Victor forced to stand, bound, for hours in that bathtub. The therapist called in a tip fo the DCF Child Abuse hotline, but quick action was not taken. That incident and a number of other apparently missed signals have led to a blue-ribbon panel investigation into the way the Barahona case was handled.
Sources familiar with the investigation tell CBS4 News that Carmen Barahona is claiming to be a victim of "battered wife syndrome" and that she is not responsible for what happened in her house because she lived in fear of her husband. Carmen has filed for divorce from Jorge Barahona.
