In the wake of a child being allegedly murdered by her father in Pembroke Pines, NBC6’s Tony Pipitone looks into Greyson’s Law, which is supposed to make it easier for judges to protect children.
Melody Alana Rose was just 15 months old when her mother had had enough of living with Jeronimo Anthony Duran.
On March 5, 2023, Melody´s mother, 35, took her daughter and moved out, later claiming in court papers Duran was “erratic, aggressive, violent and dangerous” to her and their daughter.
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The warnings came in a custody dispute with Duran, who went to court seeking confirmation of his paternity and shared parental responsibility a month after they moved out of the Pembroke Pines home they shared with his grandmother.
It was in that home Tuesday morning that police found Melody bleeding from a wound to her neck, a knife nearby. She died after being rushed to a local hospital.
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Her father, Duran, is now charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
The custody dispute was settled in March with a judge approving shared parental responsibility, finding it "in the minor child’s best interests." The settlement agreement included a parenting plan that allowed Duran to care for his daughter unsupervised. He was following that plan Tuesday morning when he picked Melody up and took her to the home where police say he killed her.
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In opposing unsupervised timesharing last year, Melody´s mother told the court Duran, 33, was a threat, having been forcibly committed to a mental health facility under the Baker Act at least five times and exhibiting suicidal ideations including “a history of hearing voices to end his life, some while the child was with him alone.”
She said Duran had stopped taking his psychotropic medications and instead used illegal drugs to self-medicate.
She asked for Melody to live with her “100 percent of the time,” while allowing supervised limited timesharing after Duran would agree to follow recommendations of mental health and drug evaluations.
Duran admitted in a June 2023 court response he "suffers from mental illness including anxiety (but not paranoia)" and said he was "receiving the appropriate treatment and prescribed medication." He denied the rest of her allegations about his behavior.
The couple, who never married, had been in a relationship since December 2013, Duran stated in his petition to the court.
He claimed to be an integral part of Melody’s life, present at the baby shower and in the delivery room, caring for and playing with her in a "close and loving relationship .. and is emotionally, physically and financially supportive and devoted to the child."
Calls to attorneys who separately represented the parents in the family court matter have not been returned.
