April 14 (UPI) — A Miami woman accused of killing her children, ages 3 and 5, faces two first-degree murder charges, local authorities said Thursday.
Miami police responded to repeated 911 hang-up calls that began around 8 p.m. Tuesday night from a Little Miami neighborhood apartment.
Upon their arrival, they found 41-year-old Odette Lysse Joassaint, who appeared to be hallucinating or in a crisis, police told the local ABC affiliate station WPLG.
They discovered Joassaint’s unresponsive daughter and son tied to a bed.
Joassaint, who was removed from the home on a stretcher and arrested Wednesday, reportedly told officers, “Come get them. I don’t want them.”
A Miami Fire Rescue crew’s attempts to revive the children were unsuccessful.
The children’s father, Frantzy Belval, told local media that he had reported Joassaint to the Florida Department of Children and Families in the past.
A family friend shared in an interview that Joassaint has a 14-year-old daughter who was placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Families in December.
Miami Police spokesperson Michael Vega said the department has received several calls from the Little Miami home over the past year relating to domestic violence, disturbances and trespassing.
Joassaint was previously arrested in 2017 for battery against her husband, a local media investigation uncovered.
She filed and was granted a domestic violence injunction against him in 2019.
