Father charged with murder after 2-year-old daughter is found with her throat slit

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (TCD) -- A father is facing a charge of murder for allegedly killing his young daughter amid a custody dispute with the girl’s mother.

On Tuesday, May 28, at approximately 9:42 a.m., Pembroke Pines Police Department officers received a call about an injured child at a home on Southwest 177th Avenue. When police and fire department officials arrived, they found a child "bleeding profusely from her neck." First responders immediately rendered aid before transporting her to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.

Officers arrested the child’s father, Jeronimo Duran, and booked him into the Broward County Jail. He's being held on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. Police said he could face additional charges as the investigation continues.

According to Duran’s arrest report, Duran picked up his daughter, identified by WTVJ-TV as Melody Alana Rose Duran, at his ex-girlfriend’s house and brought her back to his residence, where he lives with his grandmother, just before 7:30 a.m. Duran’s grandmother returned home at 9:30 a.m. and allegedly found Duran "lying on top of the victim." The grandmother reportedly asked what he was doing and told him to get off the girl.

Duran moved, and the grandmother saw Melody was "blue in color and discolored."

The grandmother went into another room and contacted her daughter, who told her to call police. When she returned to the kitchen, she reportedly saw Duran kneeling over Melody, who was bleeding. The grandmother ran to her room as Duran remained sitting in the kitchen "staying silent."

Duran’s stepfather arrived at the house and administered CPR until paramedics got there.

Pembroke Pines Police received the 911 call at 9:43 a.m. from a woman speaking in Spanish who said the "child looked yellow and it was unknown if she was breathing." Dispatch could reportedly hear screaming in the background. Officials arrived at 9:47 a.m. and at 9:50 a.m. alerted paramedics that the girl’s throat had been slit.

The arrest report says detectives went to the hospital and saw a "large laceration that appears to begin on the left side of the child’s neck, and toward the right side." They determined the injury was made with a "sharp-edged cutting instrument."

Duran reportedly had blood all over his body and clothing.

According to the report, Duran told detectives he suffers from mental health issues and had even been committed to a facility through the Baker Act, which "enables families and loved ones to provide emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people who are impaired because of their mental illness, and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment." He said he stopped taking his antidepressant and started smoking marijuana, including on the day of the killing.

Duran reportedly admitted to choking Melody until she became unconscious. When his grandmother got home and went to her room to call for help, Duran allegedly "removed a kitchen knife from a butcher block" and cut his daughter. Detectives located a bloody steak knife on the floor, which was also "covered in blood."

The arrest report says Duran repeated that he "f--ked up" and "ruined his family."

He is being charged with murder and aggravated child abuse.

According to WTVJ, Melody and her mother moved out of Duran’s home in March 2023 because Duran was "erratic, aggressive, violent, and dangerous."

Duran and his ex were in a custody dispute, but a parenting plan reportedly allowed him to have unsupervised custody of the girl. Melody’s mother told the judge at a previous court hearing that Duran had a "history of hearing voices to end his life, some while the child was with him alone." She said she had to commit Duran using the Baker Act five times.

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