A Florida teen accused of stabbing his mother 46 times pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Friday, Jan. 16.
Derek Rosa, 15, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He will also serve 20 years of probation, the Miami Herald reported.
“I’m sorry,” Rosa said during sentencing in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, according to the Herald.
Rosa’s defense attorney, Dayliset Rielo, said Rosa plans to spend the next several years in a youthful offender program.
Rielo said Rosa will go to a youthful offender camp until he turns 21, then serve the remainder of his sentence in the Department of Corrections.
“I don’t think that children belong in the adult system but I think all things considered, it was a strategic deal,” Rielo said.
Rosa was 13 when he stabbed his 39-year-old mother, Elina Garcia, while she slept in their apartment in Hialeah on Oct. 12, 2023. Her newborn daughter was sleeping nearby and was not injured.
According to a motion, Rosa allegedly took photos of his mother’s body after the killing and took a selfie with his hand covered in blood.
He then allegedly sent a friend images showing his mother’s body in a pool of blood, along with a gun and his blood-soaked hand.
Prosecutors said the friend initially believed Rosa was joking, but after realizing the images were real, the friend “alternated between shock and disbelief,” according to the motion.
Rosa was allegedly fascinated with Jason Voorhees, the hockey-masked killer from the Friday the 13th horror franchise, and told friends he planned to dress as Jason for Halloween, according to WTVJ, citing the motion.
After the killing, Rosa called 911 and allegedly confessed to the operator.
“With today’s guilty plea Derek Rosa admitted what he had previously told a 911 operator and what he had confessed to police detectives, that he murdered his mother,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “The pain Elina Garcia suffered from the 46 stab wounds could only have been surpassed by the knowledge that the person killing her was her own son.”
When Rosa “stole” his mother’s life, she said, “he also stole so much of his own future.”
During Friday’s sentencing, Rosa’s stepfather, Frank Ramos, told Rosa he was “like a son.”
“We were a very close-knit family,” Ramos said, per the Herald. “Your mom was a loving mother… Her death destroyed our family and changed our lives forever.”
