Broward County

Men arrested months after mom and daughter were shot and killed on Florida's Turnpike

After a monthslong investigation, authorities arrested 28-year-old Antoine Harris and 29-year-old Jaquan Thomas for the June 7 murders of Beatrice Saintvil and Janelle Souffrant.

Authorities have arrested two men in connection with the murders of a young mother and her daughter, who were found shot to death on Florida's Turnpike in Hollywood earlier this year.

The Broward Sheriff's Office announced Friday that after a monthslong investigation, they have arrested 28-year-old Antoine Harris and 29-year-old Jaquan Thomas for the June 7 murders of Beatrice Saintvil and Janelle Souffrant.

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Beatrice Saintvil and her daughter, Janell
Family Photo
Beatrice Saintvil and her daughter, Janell

Harris was found and arrested in Miami Gardens and will be extradited to Broward County. Thomas is currently incarcerated in Georgia on unrelated charges and will also be extradited to Broward County.

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They both face two counts of first-degree murder and will be booked into BSO's Main Jail. Further information was not available.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers found Saintvil, 27, and her only child, 4-year-old Souffrant, shot to death inside a car stopped on the left shoulder of the southbound lanes of the Turnpike late Friday night near the Hollywood Boulevard exit.

The child was pronounced dead at the scene. Family members said Saintvil died at the hospital in surgery.

“We want to know who did it,” Kyanna Librun, Saintvile’s sister, said back in June. “We want to see their face and ask them why. Why? A 4-year-old baby girl and 27-year-old mother who never had a problem with anyone, why? We want to know, why?”

The family said the mother and daughter were inseparable. They loved to dance and host holidays for everyone.

"She was a dancer, a party maker, she was a lover, the peacemaker of this house whenever something happened. She was the one who always bring us back together,” Librun said.

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