MIAMI (WSVN) - A grieving South Florida father opened up about the circumstances that led up to the killing of his two children, as their mother sits in jail after she was charged with murder.
Speaking with 7News Wednesday evening, Frantzy Belval struggled to process what happened.
“I don’t feel so good now. I don’t feel so good,” he said.
Belval described the moment City of Miami Police officers told him that his children had been killed.
“When I get home last night, the police come, they say they want to talk to me, they say, ‘We’re sorry. You lost your two kids,'” he said.
Police revealed some details about the children’s murders and the suspect: their mother, 41-year-old Odette Joassaint.
Detectives said officers found the siblings dead on Tuesday night after a woman inside the home kept calling 911 but would not tell dispatchers her emergency.
Police responded immediately to an apartment near Northeast 75th Street and First Avenue in Miami’s Little River neighborhood.
“As soon as they made contact with her, she says something to the effect of, ‘Come get them, I don’t want them anymore,’” said Miami Police Officer Michael Vega.
Detectives said the officers found the children face down and unresponsive.
The arrest report states the children were found “lying in bed in a prone position, with their arms, legs and necks tied.”
Police said the officers attempted to revive them, but it was too late.
Officers later arrested Joassaint at the scene.
Belval said things seemed odd a few weeks ago when Joassaint left both children in the care of a babysitter for several days.
“Why, you not going to work? You’re home, and then you don’t work in the night. Why you leave the kids [with] the babysitter for three days?” he said.
When asked to give a possible reason behind the murders, Belval, replied, “I don’t know exactly why she killed my kids for.”
Just a few weeks ago, pictures taken at a birthday party showed the mother smiling as she sat next to her children.
Joassaint appeared in bond court, Wednesday afternoon.
“Ma’am, you were arrested for two counts of first-degree murder,” said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer.
The suspect stood silent and expressionless as the judge read her charges.
“I have reviewed the arrest affidavit, and I believe there’s probable cause for the two charges of first-degree murder,” said Glazer.
Police said they’ve been called to the apartment many times related to issues between Joassaint and the father of her children.
Belval described his relationship with Joassaint as tumultuous. He said the last time he saw his children was during his routine visit over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Belval said, Joassaint tried calling him twice while he was at work, hours before his children were found dead.
“If she needed me for an emergency, she could have said, ‘Hey, I tried to call you for your kids’ or something, ‘You don’t answer your phone?'” he said. “She don’t say nothing, so I said maybe she don’t got no problem.”
Officials with the Florida Department of Children and Families said they are investigating and working closely with MDPD detectives. They did not release any additional details.
Joassaint is being held without bond.
She is expected to be arraigned and officially charged with two counts of first-degree murder in about 21 days.
The Department of Children and Families in Florida is set to launch an investigation, but details will remain confidential.
Community members are planning a vigil to remember the lives of the young children on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. in the Little River neighborhood.
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