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Background: News footage from the Plantation, Fla., home where Sara Ashley Gama and her 2-year-old son were found dead on March 26, 2024 (WTVJ). Inset: Jean Carlos Aponte (Broward County Sheriff’s Office).
A newly released 911 call placed after the discovery of a Florida woman and her 2-year-old son painted a horrifying picture of the scene of an alleged attempted murder-suicide.
Local NBC affiliate WTVJ reported on the call, which was released by police in Plantation, Florida, just over a year since the alleged crime took place. On March 26, 2024, the parents of 38-year-old Sara Ashley Gama went to her home after she stopped answering phone calls and were met with a bloody scene. Once they walked through the house, they discovered their daughter dead as well as their young grandson, Ethan, facedown in the pool. Their son-in-law, 41-year-old Jean Carlos Aponte, was unresponsive in the bedroom.
Gama’s father, who was not named, told dispatchers, “My daughter’s been assaulted, I think she’s dead. She looks like her throat has been slashed.” He also said that he found a knife in the kitchen. When the couple found Aponte, they initially believed he was also dead. WTVJ reported that Gama’s father told dispatchers, “Oh my God! Here’s Jean too. They were killed, we think they were killed, yeah, they were killed, somebody killed them … both are dead and their son is missing.”
In the background, Gama’s mother can be heard wailing and saying, “We need to find the baby.” The couple’s 4-month-old son was found unharmed in the living room, in a swinging infant chair.
According to the arrest warrant, Gama was found in the kitchen on the floor, “surrounded by a pool of blood.” The autopsy revealed that she had been stabbed 28 times. Ethan was stabbed four times before his father allegedly threw him in the pool where he was found; his cause of death was determined to be “sharp force injury and drowning.”
The arrest warrant also revealed an apparent confrontation on the morning of March 26, 2024 over Aponte’s alleged infidelity. Conversations captured on home security cameras and baby monitors hinted at Gama threatening to divorce Aponte, saying, “I hope she was worth it. Don’t come after my money. Don’t come after anything,” adding, “We should have signed a prenup.”
Text messages between Gama and Aponte on Facebook and WhatsApp from around 7 a.m. on March 25, 2024 also included accusations of infidelity. Gama wrote to Aponte, “When you went to Colombia for your dad’s funeral, what happened there? Because there are tons of escorts there.”
Aponte responded, “I understand I broke [your] trust.”
Gama later searched for “how does alimony work in Florida” and visited a website for a divorce lawyer.
According to the warrant, the beginning of the alleged violence was captured on the home’s cameras in the 4-month-old baby’s room beginning at about 8:20 a.m. on March 26, 2024 when police wrote, “Lights are turned off in room. Child heard yelling/screaming.” An adult male voice is later heard screaming. At 9:07 a.m., it appeared that someone tried to call 911 from an iPad.
The warrant stated that Aponte attempted suicide by overdosing on prescription medication. He was treated with naloxone at the scene and also at the hospital. Plantation police officers stayed by Aponte while he was in the hospital and noted that he said, “I’m sorry” and “I did it” while he was “in and out of sleep.”
Both Gama’s and Aponte’s families told police that Aponte, a U.S. Army veteran, had been diagnosed with PTSD following his deployment to Iraq and was taking medication.
Aponte was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and is still in custody without bail. His most recent court dates in March were to address his competency.
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