Alleged Killer Posts Picture Of Dead Wife On Facebook
SOUTH MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A grisly murder scene in South Miami has ended up on Facebook after the alleged killer posted a picture to the social networking site.
Derek Medina, 31, of South Miami posted a picture of his dead wife Thursday morning on a Facebook page attributed to him. Police found the woman's body in the townhouse at 5555 SW 67 Avenue.
There was a 10-year-old girl at the home, authorities said, but she was not hurt.
CBS4 has confirmed the identity of Medina with South Miami Police Sgt. Rene Landa.
The picture, which CBS4 and CBSMiami.com have chosen not to show, shows a woman identified in the post as Jennifer Alfonso, bent over backwards at the knees with her head in the corner of what appears to be a kitchen.
The woman's left arm is covered in blood and blood appears on her face as well.
Alfonso was married to Medina.
The Facebook page also had an alleged confession from Medina on the site that read as follows:
"I'm going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife love you guys miss you guys take care Facebook people you will see me in the news" my wife was punching me and I am not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I did what I did I hope you understand me."
The statement on Medina's Facebook page came roughly at the same time as the photo of the body was published. Medina's page was active on the site for several hours before Facebook officials took it down.
"The content was reported to us. We took action on the profile – removing the content and disabling the profile, and we reached out to law enforcement. We take action on all content that violates our terms, which are clearly laid out on our site," read a statement from Facebook released to CBS4 News. "As this is an ongoing law enforcement investigation, I would refer you to the authorities in Florida for any additional details."
According to the arrest affidavit, Medina told police that he and his wife began arguing at around 10 in the morning in their upstairs bedroom. Medina reportedly told police that he retrieved a firearm from his closet and pointed it at Alfonso, who then told him she was leaving him before exiting the room and going downstairs. According to the affidavit, Medina put the firearm away and followed his wife downstairs, where he then confronted her in the kitchen. Medina told police that Alfonso was armed with a kitchen knife, so he returned upstairs and once again armed himself with a gun. When he returned downstairs, Medina said he disarmed Alfonso and put the knife away in a drawer. Medina told police that Alfonso began punching him repeatedly, so he opened fire, striking her several times.
After the shooting, Medina told police that he changed his clothes and left the house and drove his his family's home to confess what he had done. After he left his family, he drove to the South Miami Police station and reportedly told a desk operator that he had just murdered his wife.
Police say Medina told them he knew Alfonso was dead, and that he made no attempt to call 911.
Medina had just changed his profile picture on the social networking site to a picture of himself, a woman, and a young girl some 15 hours before the final post allegedly of Alfonso's body.
Friends tell us the couple met at Denny's where Alfonso worked as a waitress. They had been divorced and remarried, and had a rocky relationship.
"I hope they have no pity for a coward, I hope that god can forgive you because I can't," said Daysi Fernandez, Alfonso's best friend and co-worker. "What sick person goes and writes a status about it and says that's something that they have to do. She never gave up she didn't even give up on that marriage when she should have a long time ago."
Neighbors describe Medina as sketchy.
"Walking around with a concealed gun so he tried to be the neighborhood watch guy," said a neighbor Yoshi Dade. " Always there day and night, it was kind of weird to me."
"It has to be mental illness, it can't be someone with sanity," said Paula Trivino, a neighbor who heard screaming coming from the home before the shooting.
According to marriage records, Medina and Alfonso had been married since April 2012.
