Report Details Tragic Death Of Nubia Barahona
MIAMI (CBS4) - MIAMI (CBS4) – Newly released documents detail the tragic life and death of 10-year old Nubia Barahona at the hands of her adoptive parents.
According to the arrest affidavit for Nubia's adoptive mother, 60-year old Carmen Barahona, Nubia was beaten to death by her adoptive father, Jorge Barahona, on February 10th, the same day a therapist called the Department of Children and Families to report that the girl and her twin brother Victor were routinely tied up and kept locked in a bathroom. The warrant states she was "repeatedly punched and beat about her body while she screamed and cried until she was dead." The therapist reportedly received the information from a Carmen's granddaughter who often stayed in the home.
Four days after Nubia was beaten to death, her body was found in the back of Barahona's pick up truck parked off I-95 in West Palm Beach; her brother was chemically burned, but still alive, in the front seat of the truck.
Carmen and Jorge Barahona now face sixteen charges between them including first degree murder; they are both being held without bond.
During a press conference on Monday Miami-Dade Police Director James Loftus called the Barahonas' actions "subhuman, depressing and sickening."
Katherine Fernandez Rundle during an afternoon press conference and expressed a commitment to beef up the police department's child exploitation unit by increasing the number of sergeants and investigators.
"This is in my experience one of the saddest commentaries on the human condition – it's depressing and sickening people working in concert to perpetrate [this crime] on their own children, adopted or not," Loftus said. "Two kids bound, locked in a bathroom with no light. What did they talk about? What hope did they have? What did they converse about?"
According to an arrest warrant, Victor says Nubia was beaten to death in Jorge and Carmen's bedroom after more than a year during which both kids were "repeatedly beaten, willfully tortured, maliciously punished and unlawfully caged."
The warrant also states Victor who was treated for a cleft palate when he was born failed to receive the proper care when his scar opened.
"He has not received the necessary medical attention causing further facial injury and disfigurement," the warrant states.
Fernandez Rundle said her team of attorneys is working closely with Miami-Dade Police to prosecute Carmen and Jorge Barahona for their alleged roles in what she described as "methodical torture imposed on these two beautiful children."
"She knew what was going on and she permitted it, that's disgusting," said Leyda Alonso, one of the Barahonas neighbors.
Sources told CBS4 I-Team investigator Jim DeFede 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.
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.
