father kills 4 m.o. daughter on xmas day ... cuz he wanted a boy - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

fishpoopoo · 01-11-2008, 03:15 PM

some stories make me so angry and so sad, i want to scream.

how can you hurt, much less kill your own flesh and blood?

why?

Quote:

orlandosentinel.com/news/local/southwest/orl-kill1108jan11,0,2353785.story?coll=orl_sports_high school_basketball_util

OrlandoSentinel.com
Polk dad charged in baby's death
Officials said the man told them he beat his daughter because he had wanted a son.
Amy L. Edwards

Sentinel Staff Writer

January 11, 2008

Marcos Gomez-Romero told sheriff's detectives he wanted a son.

Every time he looked at his baby girl, Gomez-Romero said he grew annoyed and angry because she was not the boy he had hoped for.

Gomez-Romero told detectives that abusing his daughter, Ariana Lizeth Rodriguez-Romero, became such a "habit" that he slapped her while she slept.

Ariana died Christmas Day. She was 4 months old.

On Thursday, a Polk County grand jury indicted Gomez-Romero, 28, on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for Ariana's death.

A medical examiner found dozens of internal and external injuries on Ariana's body. The infant had five new fractures on her ribs and more than a dozen old fractures. There was a hematoma and a cut on her spleen. Her liver was bruised, as was her jaw.

When questioned by a Polk County sheriff's detective the day after Ariana died, Gomez-Romero said he was angry when his daughter was born because he wanted a son, reports said.

Gomez-Romero, who lives in Winter Haven, told a detective he called his daughter an "ugly girl, a prostitute and deny [sic] she was his daughter," a Sheriff's Office report said.

Gomez-Romero said he picked Ariana up by her hands to carry her. He said he spanked her several times out of anger because she would not stop crying.

When a detective asked Gomez-Romero what a 4-month-old could do to warrant such severe punishment, the report said he stated, "Nothing."

"Gomez-Romero made it clear that his anger and hostility towards his daughter was due to the fact that she was a girl and he had wanted a son," the sheriff's report said.

Sheriff's detectives also interviewed Ariana's mother, Juana Rodriguez-Perez, who said Gomez-Romero would carry Ariana by her hands into the bedroom and close the door.

Shortly after, the report said, their daughter would begin to cry.

Rodriguez-Perez told the detective when she threatened to call the police on Ariana's father, he would threaten to leave with their 2-year-old son.

Gomez-Romero is being held at the Polk County Jail.

State Attorney's Office spokesman Chip Thullbery on Friday said that although the infant's mother has not been arrested, "the possibility of charging her has not been foreclosed at this moment."

Amy L. Edwards can be reached at aledwards@orlandosentinel.com or 407-931-5946.