Miami mom accused of strangling kids faces grand jury indictment, possible death penalty

Prosecutors say they plan to seek a grand jury indictment against the Miami mother accused of strangling her two young children that could lead to the death penalty.

The state made the announcement on Wednesday as it formally charged Odette Joassaint, 41, who remains jailed in the April 12 killing of Laural and Jeffrey Belval.

For now, Joassaint is charged with second-degree murder. If a grand jury indicts Joassaint, she’ll be charged with two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutor Laura Adams told a court on Wednesday. That would make her eligible for the death penalty under Florida law.

Through her attorney, Joassaint pleaded not guilty during Wednesday’s arraignment. Adams, an assistant state attorney, told the court the current grand jury panel ends today, and the case will be heard during the next session.

Joassaint is accused of using a red ribbon to hog-tie and strangle Jeffrey, 3, and Laural, 5, at her apartment in Miami’s Little River neighborhood. Their bodies were discovered after police say she repeatedly called 911, speaking incoherently and hanging up.

When officers arrived, she allegedly told them, “Come get them, I don’t want them anymore,” according to a police report. She told detectives that she’d been struggling financially and said the “kids were suffering and that they would suffer less if they were dead,” the report said.

The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the children died of ligature strangulation.

Records and interviews show that Joassaint’s life had been in turmoil.

She’d gone through a series of nasty domestic spats with Frantzy Belval, the father of the two children. Each parent had been jailed at least once on allegations of domestic violence, and over the years they’d come to the attention of Florida’s child welfare agency, the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Belval earlier told the Herald that Joassaint had lost custody of a third child, a 14-year-old girl.

DCF has so far refused to release any documents to the Herald relating to the agency’s involvement with the family.

This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 9:35 AM.