MIAMI (Court TV) — New court documents allege that a 13-year-old sent photos of his murdered mother and a bloody selfie to a friend in the moments after stabbing the victim to death.
Derek Rosa is accused of stabbing his mother to death in their home. (Miami-Dade Dept. of Corrections)
Derek Rosa, now 15, is charged with the first-degree murder of his mother, Irina Garcia, who was found stabbed to death on Oct. 12, 2023. In documents reviewed by Court TV, prosecutors say Rosa attacked Garcia while she was asleep, stabbing her repeatedly. He then allegedly took a photo of his mother in a pool of blood and a selfie showing his hand covered in blood, which he sent to his friend, identified as “C.G.” in court documents.
But prosecutors say this wasn’t the first time Rosa had reached out to friends to share disturbing content. Two weeks before the murder, on Sept. 30, 2023, prosecutors say Rosa sent a group text to students at his school asking, “[d]o you want me to [scare] you?” before sending a graphic video of an Army Reservist who killed himself. Rosa followed that message with another showing a “happy face emoji with a gun pointed to its head.”
Hours before Garcia was killed, prosecutors say Rosa showed the video to his girlfriend, identified as “E.P.” in court documents.
“The defendant was joking and laughing, telling E.P. that the video was funny. Understandably, E.P. did not find the video of a man’s head ‘exploding’ funny, and later that day ended her relationship with the defendant.”
Investigators say Rosa confessed to murdering his mother in an interview after he was taken into custody, saying that “the area he stabbed was a place where ‘a lot of blood sprays out.’ The defendant also indicated that following the attack, he got a firearm from the closet, and thought about shooting himself, but ultimately changed his mind.”
Officers said Rosa “would not provide detectives with a reason for why he killed his mother.”
Rosa is due back in court for a motions hearing on Nov. 25.
