Mom Accused of Killing Kids Told Cops 'I Don't Want Them'

Miami woman Odette Lysse Joassaint has been charged with first-degree murder
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 14, 2022 7:56 AM CDT
Mom Who Told Cops 'I Don't Want Them' Accused of Killing 2 Kids
This photo provided by the Miami-Dade County Jail shows Odette Lysse Joassaint.   (Miami-Dade County Jail via AP)

Police say they found a horrific scene after investigating repeated hang-up calls to 911 from an address in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood. Two children, a 5-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, were unresponsive on a bed with their arms, legs, and necks tied and officers were unable to resuscitate them, the Sun-Sentinel reports. Police say when they arrived at the apartment, mother Odette Lysse Joassaint told them, "Come get them, I don't want them anymore." Police say the 41-year-old, who appeared to be irrational, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Police say the medical examiner hasn't confirmed the cause of death yet but it was likely strangulation, CBS Miami reports. Frantzy Belval, the children's father, says their names were Laura and Jeffrey. He says the children would spend every weekend with him. He says he arrived in the US from Haiti in 1995 and Joassaint arrived in 2015. "She had asked me to cancel my contract with the apartment to move in back with her,” he tells the AP. "But she created too many problems." Belval says he has previously reported Joassaint to the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The father says that as far as he knows, Joassaint has not been diagnosed with a mental illness. Police say they have been called to the address before but none of the incidents involved the children. "We have had several calls there in the past year," Miami police public information officer Michael Vega tells WPBF. "One of them was domestic violence, another was just trespass, and some disturbance calls."

(More Florida stories.)

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