The family of a 3-year old Queens, NY girl is accusing her father of deliberately leaving her in the car to burn to death.
Martin Pereira, 39, was in the car with his daughter when it went ablaze but he escaped.
Authorities and family say that the parents of little Zoey Pereira were in the middle of a nasty custody battle and has reason to believe this senseless act was done on purpose.
Zoey’s mother, 36- year old Cherone Coleman, told the Daily News that the vengeful father taunted her with a warning about his evil plans before the girl’s tortuous murder.
“You’ll never see your daughter again,” Pereira said, according to the mother.
But cops have yet to charge Pereira, or even interview him because doctors at Manhattan’s New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center sedated him due to the injuries he suffered in the fire.
New York Daily News report:
The fire that scorched the car also singed Pereira’s clothes, according to witnesses, who saw the father run away from the vehicle before dousing the flames on his body in the water at nearby Baisley Pond Park.
Cops found Pereira in the park, and took him to the hospital.
Meanwhile, first responders pulled Zoey from the car and performed CPR and rushed her to Jamaica Hospital in a police vehicle, but she could not be saved.
The car doors had been chained shut from the inside, but the car door handles securing the chains melted, enabling rescuers to get inside.
First responders found two gasoline canisters in the car, and a propane tank in the trunk, sources said.
Cherone Coleman, overcome by grief and anger, told the News that Pereira had their daughter in his care at the time of the child’s death due to a judge’s order, and that she wishes she had disobeyed the judge.
“I should’ve just kept her and gone to jail,” Coleman said.
Sadly, there are too many stories such as this one. Our hearts are breaking for this mother. May she get justice for her baby girl. Rest in peace angel.
