Warnings of violence and danger preceded dad's alleged killing of 2-year-old in Pembroke Pines – NBC 6 South Florida

Melody Alana Rose was just 15 months old when her mother grew tired of living with Jeronimo Anthony Duran.

On March 5, 2023, Mona Rosita Clarke, 35, took her daughter and moved out, later claiming in court documents that Duran was “erratic, aggressive, violent and dangerous” to her and their daughter.

The warnings came amid a custody dispute with Duran, who went to court seeking confirmation of his paternity and shared parental responsibility a month after moving out of the Pembroke Pines home they shared with his grandmother.

It was at that home Tuesday morning that police found Melody bleeding from a neck wound, with a knife nearby. She died after being rushed to a local hospital.

Her father, Duran, is now charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

The custody dispute was settled in March with a judge approving shared parental responsibility, finding it was “in the best interests of the minor child.” The settlement agreement included a parenting plan that allowed Duran to care for her daughter without supervision. He was following that plan Tuesday morning when he picked up Melody and took her to the home where police say he killed her.

In objecting to unsupervised time sharing last year, Clarke told the court that Duran, 33, posed a threat, having been forcibly committed to a mental health facility under the Baker Act for at least five times and demonstrating suicidal ideation, including “a history of hearing voices to end one's life.” life, some while the child was alone with him.

Clarke said Duran stopped taking his psychotropic medication and instead used illegal drugs to self-medicate.

She asked Melody to live with her “100% of the time,” while allowing limited, supervised shared time after Duran agreed to follow mental health and medication evaluation recommendations.

Duran admitted in a June 2023 court response that he “suffered from mental illness, including anxiety (but not paranoia)” and said he was “receiving appropriate treatment and prescribed medications.” He denied the rest of Clarke's allegations regarding his behavior.

The couple, who never married, had been in a relationship since December 2013, Duran said in his court filing.

He claimed to be an integral part of Melody's life, present at the baby shower and in the delivery room, caring for her and playing with her in a “close, loving relationship…and he supports her emotionally, physically and financially and devotes himself to the child.

Calls to attorneys who separately represented Duran and Clarke in the family court case were not returned.