MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — It has been greater than 14 years since a Florida Division of Environmental Safety contractor discovered a 10-year-old woman useless in Palm Seaside County.
The contractor reported discovering the decomposing physique in a black rubbish bag by the tubs of chemical compounds in a purple Toyota pickup truck marked CJ Pest Management.
It was Valentine’s Day in 2011. The crime scene was on the shoulder of Interstate 95. The sufferer was Nubia Barahona. Detectives would later be taught that her years of torture ended when she was the sufferer of a murder by beating on Feb. 11, 2011, in Miami-Dade County.
On Tuesday, after years of delays in the murder case, Jorge Barahona, Nubia’s adoptive father and alleged killer, was in Miami-Dade County courtroom when he smiled at his protection lawyer earlier than a competency listening to.
Jeniffer Rohrer, a psychologist, testified through Zoom earlier than Miami-Dade County Circuit Choose Andrea Wolfson, who should determine if Barahona is competent for trial.
Rohrer, a protection witness, testified that she had examined Barahona in August and September of 2023 and concluded that he suffered from a psychotic dysfunction, however she didn’t arrive at a selected prognosis.
“I’m not certain if it’s a delusional dysfunction, or a schizoaffective dysfunction, or schizophrenia, and even presumably a bipolar dysfunction with psychotic options,” Rohrer stated, including that she doesn’t consider him competent to face trial.
Wolfson, who declared Barahona incompetent for trial final 12 months, will even have to contemplate three different evaluations.
Lina Haji, a psychologist, is among the many two consultants who evaluated Barahona and consider he’s competent to face trial this time.
“He has by no means displayed any indication that he’s out of contact with actuality … Mr. Barahona has all the time been capable of articulate and verbalize that he’s charged with homicide, that he’s going through the loss of life penalty,” Haji stated.
Miami-Dade County State Legal professional Katherine Fernandez Rundle, who has described the case as “horrific,” is more likely to search a loss of life sentence if and when the case goes to trial.
In 2020, Nubia’s adoptive mom, Carmen Barahona, pleaded responsible to first-degree homicide and aggravated little one abuse costs and was sentenced to life in jail in alternate for testimony in his case.
Carmen Barahona wasn’t current when a street ranger reported her husband’s truck on the shoulder of I-95 northbound in West Palm Seaside, and when fireplace rescue personnel discovered Nubia’s twin, Victor, with chemical burns within the truck, and Jorge Barahona on the bottom, data confirmed.
Jorge Barahona was within the Palm Seaside County jail going through costs of tried homicide and little one abuse in Victor’s case when detectives have been investigating his house in Miami-Dade County.
Miami-Dade County Courtroom data present prosecutors filed a case towards Jorge Barahona on March 7, 2011. He confronted 15 costs: First-degree homicide, seven counts of aggravated little one abuse with nice bodily hurt, and 7 counts of kid neglect.
Miami-Dade County inmate data present corrections booked Jorge Barahona, then 53, on March 23, 2011.
County courtroom data additionally present that the case that County Circuit Choose David Younger had presided in closed on March 23, 2011, and the fees have been transferred to the case that continues to be open with 5 extra costs.
County corrections data present Jorge Barahona, now 58, was a Metrowest Detention Heart inmate.
The 20 costs he faces: First-degree homicide, eight counts of aggravated little one abuse with nice bodily hurt, eight counts of kid neglect, abuse of a corpse, tried first-degree homicide with a lethal weapon, and aggravated little one abuse with nice bodily hurt.
Nubia’s twin survived and turned 25 on Could 26. He was a teenage boy when the Florida Legislature agreed to pay him $3.75 million in damages as a part of a settlement with the Florida Division of Kids and Households.
Data obtained by The Miami Herald confirmed DCF admitted on March 14, 2011, that “vital gaps and failure in widespread sense, crucial considering, possession, follow-through, and well timed and correct data sharing” had outlined the care of the twins earlier than the tragedy.
The data confirmed DCF had investigated the twins’ case twice earlier than putting them with the Barahonas in 2004 and had an open investigation when Nubia was murdered over allegations of “weird punishment and bodily harm.”
Associated doc: Final report of the Miami-Dade County grand jury
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