Police on Friday arrested a Connecticut man accused of brutally murdering his 11-month previous daughter, culminating a two week-long manhunt involving the FBI in a case that one police official known as “horrific and ugly.”
Officers arrested Christopher Francisquini, 31, in Waterbury, Connecticut on Friday afternoon, a metropolis about six miles north of the city of Naugatuck, the place he was accused of killing his then-11-month-old daughter, Camilla, who was discovered lifeless of neck compressions and stab wounds and dismembered on Nov. 18 in Francisquini’s dwelling, police said.
Naugatuck Police Chief Colin McAllister advised reporters Friday evening that Waterbury Police took Francisquini into custody shortly after 3 p.m., after a citizen who believed he acknowledged Francisquini at a bus cease, at 400 Grand Road, known as police to report the sighting. Francisquini had altered his look however was nonetheless recognizable, McAllister mentioned.
A video shared by the Naugatuck Police Division exhibits armed officers encircling Francisquini on the bus station and demanding he get down on the bottom earlier than they moved in to arrest him.
Francisquini is being held on $5 million bond, McAllister mentioned, including that he’ll seem in Waterbury Superior Court docket for a listening to on Monday morning.
Two week-long manhunt
The Naugatuck Police Division obtained an arrest warrant for Francisquini on expenses of homicide with particular circumstance and threat of harm to a minor two days after Camilla was discovered lifeless. The FBI mentioned the kid was stabbed to loss of life and provided $25,000 for info resulting in Francisquini’s arrest and conviction, noting that he “ought to be thought-about armed and harmful and mentally unstable.”
It was not instantly clear whether or not the one who known as within the tip on Friday would obtain that reward cash. A spokesperson for the FBI New Haven area workplace didn’t instantly reply to an inquiry.
McAllister advised reporters authorities cannot rule out further expenses or additional arrests provided that they’re nonetheless investigating Francisquini’s whereabouts over the previous two weeks.
“We will’t rule out that there could also be further arrests if we are able to decide that someone was helping or serving to him,” the police chief mentioned.
McAllister mentioned officers on the case have been “pushed by their dedication to the reason for bringing justice to child Camilla.”
“They will proceed to hold with them, this case, most likely for the remainder of their lives — that is one thing that is not going to be forgotten by any members of this company, simply as a result of nature of this case,” he added.
Authorities additionally credited neighborhood members with serving to to facilitate Francisquini’s arrest.
“Francisquini’s seize is a transparent instance of what may be completed when neighborhood members work with regulation enforcement to take harmful people off the road,” the division mentioned in a tweet Friday evening. “Inside 28 hours of asking the general public’s assist he was taken into custody with out incident and can face now justice.”
An ‘in depth prison historical past’
Earlier than his arrest, Francisquini was believed to have final been seen on Nov. 18, when police say safety video captured him strolling down Quinnipiac Avenue in New Haven. Police additionally mentioned Francisquini had deserted a grey 2006 Chevrolet Impala he was driving on Interstate 91 in New Haven close to Exit 8 shortly after the alleged homicide, NBC Connecticut reported.
McAllister has mentioned Francisquini and Camilla’s organic mom have been in a dispute in Waterbury on the morning of the alleged homicide, and that authorities consider Camilla was killed earlier than the dispute.
He additionally mentioned earlier within the investigation that police arrived on the grisly scene of the alleged homicide after somebody in the home known as 911 to report that Camilla was lifeless.
Francisquini, who McAllister has mentioned has an “in depth prison historical past,” was out on particular parole when he’s alleged to have dedicated the crime, and he was sporting a court-ordered monitoring system he’s believed to have minimize off the day of the alleged homicide, McAllister mentioned. Particular parole is a interval of further supervision {that a} choose can order somebody to function a part of their sentencing after they’ve served out their most jail sentence, in line with info from Connecticut’s Workplace of Legislative Analysis.
Court docket information present that Francisquini was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 10 years on particular parole on a first-degree felony assault cost in 2013. He has additionally been arrested on a number of different expenses since then, together with a misdemeanor cost of interfering with an officer this 12 months, for which he was sentenced to unconditional discharge.
It was not instantly clear how a lot jail time Francisquini had served previous to the Friday arrest.
‘She primarily simply smiled’
Camilla was laid to relaxation in a personal ceremony on Nov. 26 “surrounded by her household and family members,” police posted on social media that day, together with a photograph of Camilla.
“We acknowledge {that a} loss equivalent to this has a profound influence on each our officers and our neighborhood,” that put up mentioned.
Saturday — the day after Francisquini’s arrest — would have been Camilla’s first birthday, in line with a tweet posted by the Naugatuck Police Division. Locals gathered at a vigil in Naugatuck within the child’s honor, NBC Connecticut reported.
“I’ve been making an attempt to not cry and all the things, as a result of I simply need to hold my child’s smile and laughter,” Camilla’s mom, Kristyl, mentioned on the vigil, in line with NBC Connecticut. “That’s all she did. She hardly cried. She primarily laughed. She primarily simply smiled.”
