A Hialeah, Florida, eighth-grade student confessed to police under questioning that he killed his mother in October by stabbing her in the throat with a large kitchen knife, police video shows.
Derek Rosa, 13, is accused of brutally murdering his mother, 39-year-old Irina Garcia, on Oct. 12 by stabbing her several times as his newborn sister, who was not harmed, was sleeping in a crib in the same room of the Florida home.
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Rosa, who was charged as an adult, pleaded not guilty to murder on Oct. 31.
In the recently released video of Rosa’s interrogation, the teenager was read his Miranda Rights by detectives with the Hialeah Police Department before opening up about being an eighth grade student who earns A’s and B’s.
He also told investigators his time is divided between his parents.
On the day Garcia was murdered, Rosa told investigators, he took the bus to school, did not do much work while there, and rode the bus home, where he remained for the rest of the day.
But things changed at about 10 p.m. Rosa told investigators he went to bed around 10, as did his mother. He has his bedroom, while his mother and his sister share a room.
“I woke up, went to the kitchen, I grabbed one of the kitchen knives, and then I went to her room and I…,” Rosa told detectives before pausing for a moment.
“It’s ok, you can say it,” one of the detectives told Rosa.
“I killed her,” he confessed.
“You killed her,” the detective asked, before the young boy nodded.
The was then asked about the knife, and Rosa took both of his hands and showed the detective that the knife was about a foot long, though he was not sure what type of knife it was, and said it had a purple handle.
When asked how he killed his mother, Rosa told the detectives on video that he cut her in the neck and stuck an artery.
Garcia was asleep when he walked in, and he told detectives he said curse words in Spanish before “purposely” stabbing her in the neck.
After killing his mother, Rosa said he grabbed one of his stepdad’s guns, put a magazine in it and pulled back the slide, but could not follow through with killing himself.
Instead, he called one of his friends he met from playing online video games to tell him that he had killed his mother, before sending two pictures of his mom and one picture of himself.
According to Rosa, the friend said he could not believe what he had done. After saying goodbye to his friend, Rosa told detectives he intended to shoot himself, but called 911 and asked for police to come to the house because he had killed his mom.
The detectives asked Rosa why he stabbed his mother, at which point he said he had to use the bathroom before he could answer the question.
About four minutes later, Rosa returned and was asked about the types of video games he plays. The boy told detectives he has an XBox, Nintendo Switch and VR headset, and the games he likes to play are Fortnite and Call of Duty.
Then the detective revisited the question of why he killed his mother.
“Do I have to say it now,” Rosa asked.
“Yeah, get it off your chest,” one of the detectives responded.
“Can I wait for a lawyer,” Rosa asked the detectives.
One of the detectives then told Rosa to understand that they were not there to advise him on whether he should have a lawyer there because the choice was up to him.
The detective then asked Rosa if he was requesting a lawyer because, at that point, the interview could not go any further.
“Do you want us to stop the interview,” the detective asked the boy.
“Yes,” Rosa said, before the detective ended the interview and turned off the camera.
Rosa may face a trial next month.
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