News & Politics - 3 Children Found Decapitated

migamoo · 05-28-2004, 12:05 AM

from here

Quote:

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- Three young children were found decapitated Thursday in an apartment in northwest Baltimore, police said.

The children's mother found their bodies when she arrived home late Thursday afternoon, police spokeswoman Nicole Monroe said. The children were all under the age of 10, Monroe said.

The mother, who speaks little English, notified a neighbor, who called 911.

Homicide detectives were questioning a man Monroe said was "a person of interest."

and here

Quote:

Grisly murder of 3 children stuns neighborhood
Police describe 'gruesome' scene at city apartment

By Stephanie Hanes, Ryan Davis and Richard Irwin
Sun Staff
Originally published May 27, 2004, 11:18 PM EDT

The bodies of three young children -- one decapitated, two partially decapitated -- were found in an apartment in a quiet Northwest Baltimore neighborhood Thursday, and detectives were questioning a man about the murders.

The mother of at least one of the children found the bodies hours after they had returned from elementary school, encountering a scene that stunned even veteran city police officers.

"There's blood all over my apartment," police dispatch reported a woman saying in a 911 call made around 5:25 p.m. "They've killed my family!"

Police said the call was probably made by a neighbor helping the mother, who has difficulty speaking English.

Mayor Martin O'Malley visited the scene Thursday night and urged members of the community to "reach out to one another, support one another."

As of Thursday night, the man being questioned by detectives was described by police as "a person of interest only" and had not been charged with any crime. He was picked up a couple of blocks from the scene and was described by police as cooperative.

Police said they believe the man had some sort of dispute with the children's relatives, and the mother had pointed investigators to him.

Deputy Police Commissioner Kenneth Blackwell said police are also "looking elsewhere," implying that there may be more suspects. Late Thursday night, police were also trying to determine if there were signs of forced entry.

The fire department's Medic 14 was the first to arrive at the Art Deco-style apartment complex in the 7000 block of Park Heights Ave. late Thursday afternoon.

"You can imagine their feeling when they saw what was inside the apartment," said fire department spokesman Kevin Cartwright.

The emergency workers found them on the floor in two different rooms -- two 9-year-old sisters and one 10-year-old boy. Police did not immediately identify any of the children Thursday night.

They were a trio that neighbors said always seemed to be together -- playing in the nearby willow tree, asking for the phone number for Chuck-E-Cheese.

The first police officer to enter the apartment was overcome by the scene, which Blackwell described as "gruesome," and "something I've not seen before in all the years I've been a part of the agency."

Blackwell said investigators recovered a weapon from outside the apartment, but would not elaborate on the type of weapon or where, exactly, it was found. No weapons were found inside the apartment and there was no trace of drugs or drug use, he said.

Police picked up a priest from St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Church in Central Park Heights to counsel grieving family members.

"You've got three young kids, 10 years of age or younger, who have obviously done nothing wrong," Blackwell said.

The 1930s-era Samester Parkway Apartments -- which was listed in 1998 on the National Register of Historic Places -- is on the southern edge of a neighborhood considered largely Orthodox Jewish, in a section that now has a mix of white, black and Hispanic residents.

Neighbors described it as a safe place, one unaccustomed to the swarm of police cars and de tectives present there Thursday. Police records back that notion: not once in the past six months have officers responded to G-2 or any other unit at the apartment complex, according to a police spokeswoman.

"This is highly unusual for this neighborhood," Blackwell said.

Gregory Carter, who lives in another apartment in the building, hadn't heard about the slayings until he was called by a reporter at work. He described the crime as "unbelievable."

Carter said he doesn't know any of his neighbors' names but believed there was only one family in the building with children -- on the first floor, where the killings occurred. He said he had seen the children the day before, describing them as "carefree kids."

"Every time I saw them, they was playing cheerfully out in the yard," Carter said. One time, he said, the children came upstairs and knocked on his door asking for a phone number for Chuck E. Cheese.

Theresa Hopson, 58, who lives nearby, said that she knew the children and would often see them playing together under a willow tree near her apartment window.

"They were beautiful children," she said. "When you saw one, you saw all three. They appeared to be very close to each other.... It's devastating, absolutely devastating."

migamoo · 05-28-2004, 12:11 AM

this is just really sick. i wanna know who would do something like this. i hope that they find the person or persons who did this.

ashley

always2nl · 05-28-2004, 03:39 AM

This is so sick!! Who would wanna do that?

girl in a cardigan · 05-28-2004, 11:20 AM

I read that this morning. My co-worker and I were just dumbfounded...how can you kill a child? I just will never understand.

*Kaylee* · 05-28-2004, 02:50 PM

Eww thats gross and kinda sad.

Elizajoey · 05-28-2004, 09:57 PM

This is absolutely dreadful. Imagine the sight for that poor mother as well as the fire and police people.

It saddens me to think that they probably saw each other die because they seemed to be so close in the descriptions from neighbours.

Truly horrible and what motive could you serious have. Murder I know happens but to decided to decapitate them. Thats horrendous

migamoo · 05-29-2004, 09:24 PM

Just an update. from cnn.com

Quote:

Two held in children slayings
Saturday, May 29, 2004 Posted: 11:46 AM EDT (1546 GMT)

Ricardo Espinoza and Mimi Quezada, the parents of two of the three children console each other late Thursday night.

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- Court documents offered new details but no motive for the slayings of three young children in which one was beheaded with a butcher knife and the others were nearly decapitated.

The grisly murders left family, neighbors and even veteran law enforcement officers shaken.

Adan Espinoza Canela, 17, and Policarpio Espinoza, 22, were arrested on murder charges Friday and were being held without bail.

The men are accused of killing 9-year-old Ricardo Espinoza; his 9-year-old sister, Lucero Quezada; and their 10-year-old cousin, Alexis Quezada. The children were found Thursday.

According to the charges, Espinoza, who was described as the brother of the father of two of the slain children, drove Canela to the apartment where the children lived.

Espinoza stayed in the car as Canela, his cousin, knocked on the front door around 4:20 p.m. Thursday. He identified himself to the children, who let him enter, according to the court papers.

Canela left the apartment through a back window about 5 p.m. and met Espinoza in a nearby parking lot. Espinoza asked Canela what he was doing for so long. Canela said he was playing with the children, the documents said.

The mother of at least one of the children got home from work shortly after 5 p.m. and found their bodies in different bedrooms of the first-floor apartment, police said.

Canela and Espinoza were seen with their relatives after the killings were discovered, the documents said. Neighbors said they acted suspiciously around the apartment complex before the killings.

The pair were questioned separately late Thursday and early Friday by Spanish-speaking police officers after waiving their right to have an attorney present, the documents said.

Police searched their home on Friday and found a shirt and towel stained with what was believed to be blood, documents said.

Police found a butcher knife near the apartment where the children were found and said they believe it was used in the killings.

The suspects were "emotionless" as they talked with detectives, said Deputy Police Commissioner Kenneth Blackwell.

A relative said the family was originally from Mexico and moved from New York to Baltimore about three years ago. The relative said the family owns a food business.

The Mexican government's Foreign Relations Department said the children's parents -- Ricardo Espinoza, Mimi Quezada and Maria Andrea Espejo -- were undocumented Mexican immigrants. It wasn't known who the parents were of each child. The children were born in Mexico.

The department said Baltimore and the Mexican Embassy in Washington were assisting the parents of the slain children.

An informal vigil was conducted outside the apartment complex Friday evening. Dozens of people gathered in front of the children's home, and many left stuffed animals and flowers.

"The community is really hurt," said family friend Luis Contreras.

Parents and teachers at Cross Country Elementary School hugged each other Friday morning and cried. Officials said grief counselors were on hand to help the 700 students. Karen Braden's son is in Ricardo's class. She said the children were in tears when she brought her son in.

Principal Matthew Riley described the slain children as "wonderful young people, lovely children, delightful to work with."

I've actually heard that it was 'payback' because the children were born in Mexico and brought here illegally. The people who smuggled them in wanted their money and never got it. I'm not saying this is true, just what i've heard.

Ashley

CrabbyCancer69 · 06-01-2004, 07:09 AM

I was in the break room here at work on Friday when this story broke....I was sitting there with tears brimming in my eyes at how horrible this story is. I couldn't imagine being that mother and finding her kids like that, it's truly devastating.

JudeNeary · 06-01-2004, 11:47 PM

How could things like that happen ? So sick.


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