Derek Rosa was 13 when he stabbed his 39-year-old mother, Elina Garcia, as she slept in her bed in their Florida apartment on Oct. 12, 2023
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(736x362:738x364):format(webp)/derek-rosa-mugshot-1-111325-3bdb729f7be94dbfb8cd4e72d5b599d2.jpg)
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. In addition, he will spend 20 years on probation, the Miami Herald reported.
“I’m sorry,” Rosa said at his sentencing in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, according to the Herald.
“I think that he is thankful to everyone that supported him and still supports him,” Rosa’s defense attorney Dayliset Rielo tells PEOPLE.
Rielo says Rosa will go to a youthful offender camp until he’s 21. After that, he will complete the remainder of his sentence at 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,” says Rielo.
Rosa was 13 when he stabbed his 39-year-old mother, Elina Garcia, as she slept in her bed in their apartment in Hialeah on Oct. 12, 2023.
Her newborn daughter was sleeping nearby but was unharmed.
According to a motion obtained by PEOPLE, Rosa allegedly took photos of his mother’s corpse after he killed her and took a selfie with his hand covered in blood.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
He then allegedly sent a friend images of his mother’s corpse in a pool of blood, a gun and his blood-soaked hand.
Prosecutors said the friend initially thought Rosa was joking but when he learned the images were real, the friend “alternated between shock and disbelief,” per 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 he killed his mother, Rosa called 911 and allegedly confessing to an 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, “he also stole so much of his own future,” she said.
During Friday’s sentencing, Rosa’s stepfather Frank Ramos told Rosa he was “like a son.”
“We were a very close-knit family,” he said, per the Herald. “Your mom was a loving mother… Her death destroyed our family and changed our lives forever.”
News
“She Could No Longer Communicate” — Betty Broderick’s Son Is Now Revealing Tragic New Information About the Infamous Killer’s Final Days on Life Support
Betty was serving two consecutive sentences for the 1989 killings of her ex-husband and his new wife at the time of her death Betty Broderick’s son, Daniel Broderick, is sharing new details about the death of his mother, who died in prison at the age of 78 while serving a life sentence for killing her […]
More Than 35 Years After Betty Broderick Killed Their Father in Bed… Here’s What Happened to Her Children
Betty Broderick was once seen as the picture-perfect American wife: a devoted mother living in a luxury home in La Jolla, California, with her successful attorney husband and their four children. But behind the image of wealth and perfection was a marriage filled with betrayal, rage, obsession, and emotional destruction — one that would ultimately […]
New Idaho evidence is devastating: Xana Kernodle was reportedly awake at 4:12 AM ordering DoorDash and scrolling TikTok moments before the attack.
The sister of one of four college students slaughtered in their home has spoken out about a bombshell development in the case. Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of a horror quadruple homicide in a case that has captivated the world, has reportedly accepted a plea deal in order to avoid the death penalty. Kohberger […]
“THE LEGS WOULDN’T FIT.” — Michigan Killer’s Chilling Confession Left Detectives Speechless.
In May 2019, police in the town of Sturgis, Mich., received an anonymous tip that a 35-year-old resident Wade Allen, had killed his girlfriend, Kelly Jean Warner, and hidden her dismembered body in his apartment. Allen let them in, as seen in a digital exclusive episode of A&E’s Crime in Progress, but claimed that Warner […]
“YOU DESTROYED MY LIFE” — Then She Shot Her Ex-Husband and His Young Lover While They Slept.
Betty Broderick: The True Story Behind America’s Most Infamous Divorce Murder The death of Betty Broderick on May 8, 2026, closed the final chapter on one of the most controversial true crime cases in American history — a case that still divides public opinion nearly four decades later. Some people see Betty as a cold-blooded […]
“Fearless” hunter Anthony Pollio never made it home…
A Catholic deacon mauled to death in a suspected bear attack left his father a touching voicemail as he embarked on the ill-fated hike to watch the sunset. Anthony Pollio, 33, was found dead at Montana’s Glacier National Park about two and a half miles into a hike along the Mt. Brown Trail on May […]
End of content
No more pages to load
