New surveillance video shows the dramatic emergency response outside the Pembroke Pines house where a 2-year-old was murdered allegedly at the hands of her father.
Jeromino Duran, 33, is charged with first degree murder and aggravated child abuse in what police call the brutal killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Melody, at a home in the 400 block of Southwest 177th Avenue on Tuesday morning.
Duran’s next door neighbor, Sergio Cabañas, shared multiple camera angles of surveillance video that showed Duran coming and going from the house in the hours before the murder. It also shows first responders and family arriving to the house hoping to save the girl.
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Cabanas hopes sharing the videos will help raise awareness about domestic violence.
"The hope is this will bring pubic awareness and let people know that there are legal options for them to use to protect children," said Cabañas, who is also a family law attorney.
In one of the videos screams are heard coming from the house, as paramedics rushed to Melody’s side. The video shows first responders wheeling the badly injured toddler on a stretcher and into the ambulance.
A timestamp on the video shows Duran leaving his home in the Silver Lakes community at 7:08 a.m. Tuesday. He then returns at 7:24 a.m. after police said he picked Melody up at her mother’s house.
At 9:32 a.m., a gray SUV arrives at the house, which police said was driven by Duran’s grandmother, Hilda Carballo. She is the one police said called 911 after she walked into the home to find Duran on top of the child, who was bleeding and not breathing.
At 9:44 a.m., a black Mercedes sedan quickly pulled into the driveway, and a man is seen running into the house. Police said that is Jorge Carballo, who administered CPR on Melody until paramedics arrived about three minutes later.
Pembroke Pines police say Melody suffered extensive injuries and that her throat was cut with a knife. Doctors pronounced her dead at the hospital.
On Thursday morning, Duran appeared before a Broward County judge, where prosecutors insisted he remain in jail without bond until trial.
“We are asking that he be held no bond, this is a capital felony. On count two, based on the level on violence described in the affidavit and the strength of the evidence against Mr. Duran, the state is recommending a $500,000 bond,” said Assistant State Attorney Eric Linder.
The judge agreed and ordered Duran held without bond on the murder charge.
Court records show the child’s mother previously described Duran's behavior as "erratic, aggressive, violent and dangerous." Still, the two agreed to shared custody of the little girl.
The medical examiner is working to determine Melody’s official cause of death.
