Dad of murdered infant son threatened to kill baby; dad now charged with kidnapping, 1st-degree murder (Broward County, Florida)

Seems that dad JANUS SAINTIL JR. was pissed that the mom was breaking up with his crazy @$$ self, so he proved he was a crazy @$$, and a murderous one too. Remember: just 'cause Daddy asks to see "his son" doesn't mean he has good intentions.

At least nobody here is exclaiming disbelief and claiming he was really a "loving father" and all that happy horsesh**.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/jun/03/father-of-murdered-infant-said-he-would-kill-his/

Father of murdered infant said he would kill his son
By Erika Pesantes Sun Sentinel
TCPalm
Posted June 3, 2012 at 8 p.m.

Little Josiah's last moments were spent inside the trunk of a black Kia Spectra nestled in his car seat beneath a blanket and a diaper bag.

The last words the baby's mother heard before Janus Saintil Jr. abandoned her and two friends at a gas station were that he would kill their son. The 24-year-old father sped off in the Kia and made good on that promise, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.

Saintil, of Deerfield Beach, was charged with the first-degree murder of Josiah, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and four counts of kidnapping. There also was a warrant for his arrest in a prior armed robbery. He was being held Saturday without bail in Broward County Jail.

By Saturday evening, the Broward Medical Examiner's Office had not yet ruled on the baby's cause of death. Josiah would have been 2 months old Tuesday.

His tiny discolored body was found still foaming at the mouth and nose when a Broward Sheriff's detective made the tragic discovery at the Palm Terrace condominiums at 11001 Royal Palm Boulevard in Coral Springs on Friday.

The deadly ordeal began Thursday night after Saintil forced Marissa Murray, 22, to drive her mother's 2008 Kia Spectra away from a North Lauderdale Walmart with the baby's mother, Claudia Harriott, Josiah, and their friend, Andrew Pennant, in tow. Saintil had asked Murray to drop him off at the Walmart on her way to Harriott's sister's house.

A text that Harriot, 22, sent Saintil earlier Thursday saying she was breaking up with him for good had set him off, Murray said, and Saintil asked to see their son. They argued about their relationship in the car, the baby became fussy and Saintil then turned on them all and whipped out a gun, she said.

Saintil said he had nothing to live for and was "going to make the news," said Murray, who was simply thankful to be alive while recalling the tragic events Saturday.

"I've seen him get mad, but not to this point. He lost his mind," she said, "The look in his eye was evil. It wasn't the same."

In what would be the beginning of a violent three hours, Saintil ordered Murray to drive to Interstate 95 and then nearly 90 miles to Port St. Lucie. He told her to speed up her slow driving so as to not raise suspicions, she said. Her only focus amid the terror was the road ahead, Murray said.

Meanwhile, Saintil threatened to kill them all at gunpoint and he pistol-whipped Pennant, 22, when the surprised friend kept turning around from the front passenger's seat. Harriott and Saintil sat in the back seat with the baby.

"I thought he was going to kill us right there and then," Murray said.

On the ride north, Saintil requested that Murray play Lil Wayne and Drake on the radio, and he rapped along to "very violent songs" that talked about killing and getting money, Murray said. He smoked a few cigarettes.In the back seat, Saintil hit Harriott and caressed her face with the gun, even putting it in her mouth and pulling the trigger while it had the safety lock on, Murray said. He made Harriott sing along too.

"She was crying, pleading really, to God," Murray said of her longtime friend.

When they reached a home in Port St. Lucie, Saintil took the car keys and his son inside and ordered the victims wait in the car, the Sheriff's Office said. He emerged without the baby and in the company of three other unidentified men.

Those men got into a champagne Lincoln and Saintil had Murray follow them to another house about five miles away, she said. There, Saintil rounded up all their cellphones and went inside.

Upon his return, he had Murray drive them to a Hess gas station about a mile away, where he ordered Pennant to withdraw money from an ATM.

But Pennant refused, raised his voice and instead told an attendant at the gas station to call police.

Saintil seemed to go for his gun, but instead walked back to the car and forced Murray and Harriott out.

He told her he was going to kill the baby and smiled while doing so. "She broke down in the gas station," Murray said.

According to the Sheriff's Office, Saintil then returned for his son and returned to Broward County while police went to the gas station to aid the carjacking victims at about 10 p.m. Thursday.

By Friday afternoon, Saintil was found in the stolen car outside the Coral Springs apartment complex along with Talia Rodriguez, 18. Baby Josiah was then discovered in the car trunk; a loaded handgun was on the floorboard of the car on the driver's side.

Rodriguez told investigators that Saintil had arrived to her home late Thursday and seemed emotional. They talked about their relationship inside the car, where she played with Josiah, the Sheriff's Office said.

Saintil left, but returned after midnight Friday without the baby, Rodriguez told investigators. He spent the night there, and Saintil and Rodriguez spent most of Friday driving around Coral Springs, according to the police report.

Unbeknown to Rodriguez, the baby was dead in the trunk, the Sheriff's Office said.

A woman at Saintil's apartment at Tivoli Terrace at Tivoli Park in Deerfield Beach on Saturday declined to comment. A neighbor and father of five was in disbelief that Saintil lived just a few doors down.

"It just blows my mind," Tom Gallo said, "Oh, my goodness. … It's got to hurt anybody. It hurts the mother, it hurts the community. I'd give my life for my kids."

Meanwhile on Saturday, Harriott's family was attending her grandmother's funeral, her grand uncle, Bennetto Harriott, said. He said he never had a chance to meet baby Josiah.

Authorities urge anyone who may have seen Saintil after midnight Friday call Detective John Curcio at 954-321-4210 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.