PLANTATION, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have released additional details about the deaths of a woman and her 2-year-old son as, investigators said, they have proof that the father was behind the murders.
Plantation Police said 40-year-old Jean Carlos Aponte killed his wife, Sara, and their young son, Ethan, before he unsuccessfully tried to take his own life.
The young boy was just days away from celebrating his third birthday. A party had been scheduled for this weekend but now, the house is silent and empty.
The gruesome discovery was made last Tuesday by Sara’s parents, who came to the house when they couldn’t get in touch with their daughter.
Investigators said the parents found Sara on the kitchen floor, covered in blood, and stabbed 28 times. They called 911. Police later found the 2-year-old boy in the backyard pool. Both had been stabbed to death.
The parents’ second child, a 4-month-old, was crying but unharmed as she sat in an infant swing.
According to police, Aponte had overdosed and was found unconscious in the bedroom.
New unredacted pages from the arrest report detail how Sara’s father told detectives “that Jean suffered from [post-traumatic stress disorder] from his deployments in Iraq while he was in the Marine Corps. He stated that he believed that Jean managed his “issues” well most of the time but knew him to have a few anger outbursts.”
Sara’s mother also spoke to police, telling them “she knew that Jean suffered from PTSD and had some aggression issues and was taking medication.”
The mother and sister of Aponte also met with police and told them that he “suffered from depression and was recently in constant pain.”
According to the newly released pages, Aponte’s marriage was in trouble. Detectives said that, on the day of the murders, one of the baby monitors recorded an argument between the couple with a woman’s voice saying, “I hope she was worth it. Don’t come after my money.”
An hour earlier, Aponte sent his wife a text message that read “I understand I broke your trust.”
Ninety minutes later, on the baby monitor, police say, a child is heard screaming.
As police investigated, they found a text message from Sara to a contact saved as mom that read “Call 911.” That text was never sent.
While Aponte recovered in the hospital, before he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, police monitored his recovery and took notes of what he said while in and out of consciousness.
According to the arrest report, at one point, an officer said he admitted to the crime by saying “I did it.”
Aponte has since been discharged from the hospital and is now behind bars at the Broward County Jail.
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