A family killed in a murder-suicide had been dead for over a week before their bodies were found. NBC6’s Lorena Inclan reports
Relatives are trying to piece together how a family of four ended up dead at the hands of a father at their Miami-Dade apartment in a tragic murder-suicide that went unnoticed for over a week.
The gruesome discovery was made Sunday night in a unit at the Royalton on the Green Apartments at 17400 Northwest 68th Avenue after officers were called to the building for a welfare check.
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Miami-Dade Police said they arrived and found the bodies of 50-year-old Yumara Martinez Morejon and her children, 13-year-old Stephanie and 18-year-old Jason, dead from gunshot wounds.
Martinez's husband, identified by relatives as 60-year-old Victor Peñalba Gonzalez, is believed to be responsible and was also found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
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"I know my sister broke up with him on and off a few times and she found this apartment, she was living with the two kids," Martinez's brother, Juan Rodriguez, told NBC6. "I guess he fell on bad luck and he lost his job with Hialeah water department and he cried to her and she gave him a chance to come live with her and help her pay the bills and she paid a heavy price."
Rodriguez said his nephew's friends had alerted police after not hearing from him for days. He said his nephew had sent a cryptic message about two weeks ago.
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"According to the detective, he tells us that my nephew mentioned to, I believe it was his friend or his girlfriend, a week before the 29th, that said 'if you don’t hear from me in four to five days something bad happened,'" Rodriguez said. "Why would he say that? It leads me to believe that the father was threatening them."
Police said the couple had married in 2007. Rodriguez said the family knew his sister and Peñalba had separated but there was talk of them getting back together.
He said the family disapproved of Penalba moving in with the family and let her know.
"She hadn't passed by my house for a while because we didn't accept her going back with him, we didn't accept it, something was telling us that she shouldn't go back with him," he said. "We told her we don't think that's a great idea."
Rodriguez said he had last spoken with his sister around the Christmas holidays.
"We all have our own lives, you have a brother, you have a sister, you don't know what your sister's going through behind closed doors," he said. "Some sisters don't open up and tell you everything that's really going on in their lives, you know? This is a clear case of internal domestic violence. Why? Because we didn't even have an idea he was capable of something like this. Because you would get your relative out of a situation like this. Unfortunately we find out after, when it's already too late."
He added that no one thought Peñalba was capable of what happened.
"He liked to drink but he never was like an aggressive, bad behavior type of guy to get violent, enough for us to call the police, never. But he snapped, God knows what really happened," Rodriguez said. "Who expects the person that you love, the father of your kids to do such a thing?"
Rodriguez said his niece, Stephanie, liked to draw, while his nephew, Jason, liked video games and had recently gotten accepted to a college.
"They had their whole life in front of them, beautiful kids, beautiful little girl," he said.
Stephanie attended Hialeah Middle School, where NBC6 was told the school district sent a crisis team on Tuesday.
Rodriguez added that the family was devastated and still trying to process what happened.
"This is destroying us to the core as a family," he said.
Ana Martinez, Martinez's stepmother, said she hasn't been able to sleep for days.
"Why? It’s my question every single day. Why he did it?" she said.
It's unclear exactly when the killings actually happened and how long the bodies had been in the apartment, but police said it appears they had been dead for over a week.
Detectives are still investigating the incident.
"Domestic violence affects in so many different ways and if the domestic violence is not attended, is not taken seriously, you allow it to escalate and eventually end in tragedy like it did in this particular case," Miami-Dade Police spokesman Alvaro Zabaleta said.
"Women, if you're in a relationship where you think that there's a possibility as of today, if you think that there is a doubt in your mind that your baby daddy or your boyfriend is capable of doing something like that, tell your mother, tell your father," Rodriguez said. "Look what it cost my sister for not opening her mouth."
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
