Posted on 12/06/2003 1:08:54 PM PST by MegaSilver
DELAND -- Proclaiming to be the anti-Christ, a 28-year-old man confessed to killing three Jehovah's Witnesses in their West Volusia home and was charged with their murders Friday.
Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said Javier Orlando Carrasquillo's mother told investigators her son had made a "pact with the devil" to sacrifice human life. Since then, Leida Rivera has been in a safe house awaiting her son's arrest.
The Sanford man, who often lived on the streets, told investigators he suffered from schizophrenia, according to sheriff's reports. He said his only reason for killing the family of three -- fellow Jehovah's Witnesses who tried to help him -- was because he no longer liked them, an affidavit states.
Carmen Negron, 63, and her sons Gilberto Vergara-Negron, 28, and Yamir Orlando Vergara-Negron, 26, were killed Sunday in their Biscayne Avenue home near Orange City, the sheriff said.
Carrasquillo told sheriff's investigators he took a taxi from the Seminole County Mental Health Center in Sanford, where he had been staying for about a month, to the Negron home. After killing the family, he told said he took Gilberto's car to Orlando and abandoned it. Investigators are not clear how he got from Orlando back to the mental heath center where he dumped his burned clothes in the trash bin out back.
The sheriff said Carrasquillo acted alone.
"After the arrest, Javier admitted to our investigators he had committed the triple murder, that he shot all three and stabbed one," Johnson said Friday at a news conference. "Javier was our prime suspect, our only suspect."
The State Attorney intends to present this case to the grand jury Dec. 15 to seek three first-degree murder indictments, State Attorney John Tanner said in a statement.
Carrasquillo is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail without bail.
Family and fellow Jehovah's Witnesses said this week they heard the man threaten to harm the three. Church elder Eugenio Muriel said they were told Carrasquillo was going to get a weapon and kill a family.
The elders told investigators they took the threats seriously and held recent meetings behind locked doors.
Carrasquillo had been expelled from the congregation for a drug problem, and the Negrons might have been trying to help him, Muriel said.
But when Carrasquillo went to the family's house Sunday, he asked to use their bathroom and, once in there, he decided to go out and kill them, according to sheriff's reports.
First, he shot the older son, Gilberto, in the back bedroom. Sgt. Bob Kelley said the mother did not have time to react when she was killed in the bathroom.
The younger son, Yamir, fought with Carrasquillo before he was shot and stabbed.
"You know for a short period of time there was a great fear in these people," Sheriff Johnson said.
He said the mental health center allowed Carrasquillo to leave during the day. Inside his room, the sheriff said investigators found part of a dismantled 9 mm handgun. Spent shell casings found at the house appear to match those used with the weapon.
Investigators said they also found five knives, two that were bloodied, inside the home, and Carrasquillo's fingerprints were found inside, as well.
Carrasquillo originally was arrested Thursday afternoon on a warrant for resisting arrest, stemming from a March incident when Carrasquillo was taken into custody under the Baker Act, which allows people to be held for up to 72 hours against their will if they pose a danger to themselves or others. He was not arrested at the time.
"Even if he had been arrested back then, he wouldn't have stayed in jail," Sheriff Johnson said.
The Negrons were a close, religious family who often spent their time together.
Carmen was widowed and often tended to her garden. Gilberto, the "teddy bear" of the family, supported the three with his job as a mechanic in Sanford. Yamir was studying to be a paramedic and would have graduated from the training program next week.
A funeral for the family will be tonight at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1500 E. Minnesota Ave. It begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.
Carrasquillo had,
I would bet, a whole legion
of accomplices...
So9
Dear Mr. Lindsey:
Thanks for your help, but it turns out it wasn't needed. We found him.
CC: D. Hunt
P. Lalonde
T. Marrs
P. Robertson
J. van Impe
My, we have a varied clientèle
 |
Girls who carry snakes in public probably are on the safe list, too... |
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