Police: Elderly Kendall Man Killed Wife In Hamburger Dispute
MIAMI (CBS4) - A grieving daughter is speaking out after her father is accused of killing her mother, saying she suffered years of abuse during their 52 years of marriage.
CBS4 News partner The Miami Herald reports that her father, 78-year-old Bartolo Gelsomino, became angry when his 70-year-old wife Ana Gelsomino refused to cook him a hamburger and then stabbed her to death and covered up the crime by staging a burglary to their home.
"That day it was a hamburger, another day it was eggs," the daughter told CBS4's Peter D'Oench in an exclusive interview. "Another day the water was too cold or too hot. It didn't matter, anything that wasn't right or didn't feel right, he used it to control my mother."
The daughter did not want to reveal her identity but she said she wanted to "speak from the heart" about her mother.
"She was my mother and my best friend and my confidante and I lived for her and I took care of her," she said. "She was a saint. Most of all she lived for her children and that's what got her killed."
The daughter actually discovered her mother's body last Monday night inside their home in the 10700 block of Southwest 146th Court.
"I was the first one to discover my mother lying there in a pool of blood," she said. "I understand from the Medical Examiner's office that she was stabbed several times. My mother should have left my father a long time ago. There were years of abuse. She did not want to leave him after 52 years of marriage. It does not go away easily."
"My mother lived through domestic violence and because of her silence my mother is now gone," she said. "I would like everyone to know you can not keep silent and it finally happened. I don't want my mother's death to go down in vain. It took 52 years. Don't let it take you that long to see if you need help. Please reach out to someone if you need help."
The Miami Herald reports that Gelsomino confessed to stabbing his wife and lead them to a trash bin where he ditched the kitchen knife that was used.
Gelsomino is charged with second degree murder.
He will face an arraignment on February 11th before a Miami-Dade Circuit Judge. His daughter told D'Oench that she would be there and planned to monitor the case closely.
She said, "I hope that justice will be served. I am not going to say what I think should happen to my father. I just want justice, for my mother's sake."
She told D'Oench that she was born in Sicily and said that her family moved to Brooklyn where her father worked in construction. She said the family moved to South Florida in 1985.
The daughter said she has three other brothers. D'Oench also spoke with two of the brothers but they declined to say anything on camera.
(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
