Teen Charged With Strangling, Choking Mom Over Staying Out Late
NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) – A 16-year-old South Florida teen has been charged with the horrific murder of his mother whose body was found inside their Northeast Miami-Dade apartment. Police say he strangled her with his bare hands after a fight about staying out late on a school day, then stabbed her repeatedly until she died before he first took a nap, then cleaned up and hid her bloody corpse.
Police said Kit Darrant stayed with decomposing the body for 4 days, along with his 3 year old brother, even holding a get together for friends.
Late Thursday afternoon, Darrant was charged with Second Degree murder. A Juvenile Justice Court Judge ruled that he held in "secure detention" for 21 days and scheduled a hearing for April 26th.
Police were called to 35-year-old Renette Emile's Jade Winds apartment complex on Wednesday night in the 1700 block of Northeast 191st Street after she had not been seen in several days.
"Our officers went to check the welfare and that's when they discovered the body of the deceased," said police spokesman Detective Alvara Zabaleta.
Emile's decomposing body was found in one of the bedrooms. Her two sons were not home at the time.
Eventually, the boys returned home. The 3-year-old was given to a family member while Darrant was detained for questioning where he confessed to killing his mother, according to police.
During the interview, police said he confessed, telling them he and his mother fought on the night of March 27th over staying out late. The arrest affidavit said Darrant, "responded to his bedroom and began to plan how to kill the victim. (Darrant) came to the conclusion to strangle the victim with his bare hands."
Police said he went to his mother's bedroom, pout her in a choke hold, and strangled her until she was unconscious. When he found she was still breathing, the police report said, Darrant got a large knife from the kitchen and stabbed his mother at the base of the neck.
Police said when he realized she was still alive, she turned ths mother over, stabbed her "numerous" times in the torso and arms, and left her for dead.
The whole thing happened, police said, as Darrant's 3 year old brother slept in another bedroom.
With his mother dead in the bedroom, police say Darrant showered and went to sleep, When he awoke, wrapped his mother's body in bedsheets, cleaned up the bedroom, and sprinkled laundry soap and deodorant on the body to hid the stench of decomposition.
There. police said, the body remained while Darrant continued to live in the house for four days, at one pointing inviting friends to the apartment while his mother's body was still there.
News that Darrant confessed to the killing was not a surprise to some.
"He's been a trouble kid for a while, my mom and I tried to steer him in the right direction," said family friend Chris Thyp. "To kill his mom, that's like really, really crazy."
"Obviously something is wrong with that child, to want to kill your mother, I don't know why he did it," said neighbor Martin Bermudez.
Family members told CBS4 that the boy and his mother had been having problems over the last several months. They said he refused to listen to her and she even sent him to some sort of boot camp.
"She thought he would have been better, you know, that's why she sent him to boot camp," said one of Emile's sisters, Janet Baker.
The victim's brother, who did not give his name, said, "He (Darrant) didn't want to listen to his Mom. That's the problem. He wanted to do his own thing."
News of Emile's death has family members in shock and wondering how something like this could have happened.
"I feel so bad, so bad," said Emile's other sister, Jeanine Jolicouer. "My blood pressure is coming so high because Renette is my heart. She is good. She is a nice girl."
Jolicouer told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that "I know Renett treats the kids real well. She was very good to them."
"I don't know, I'm trying to put the pieces together," said Baker. "I'm just hanging in there, that's all."
When asked how her three year old nephew was doing, Baker replied, "He's fine, he's right there, he's fine."
Neighbors said they heard loud music coming from the apartment as though a party was going on. They didn't realize Emile lay dead inside.
"It's a sad incident you know, it's terrible that it's happened," said Bermudez. "We hope something like this never happens again and justice will be served."
Police said officers have responded to the home twice in the past. Once it was for a domestic situation and the other was to investigate reports that the 16-year-old son was driving erratically around the parking lot.
