A bruised and bewildered Mesac Damas is seen in this photo taken at the Port-au-Prince police station yesterday in Haiti.
As he was escorted down a hallway to his cell, he shouted “I don’t want no pain, no suffering.”
According to the Miami Herald, Damas, 33, was taken into custody yesterday afternoon (9/21) by the Haitian National police who found him hiding in a home next to the hotel where he was staying. Damas reportedly told police “I was going to turn myself in. You see I’ve got my suit on and everything,” and he told a reporter he returned to the island nation “mostly to say goodbye to my family.”
Damas fled to his native Haiti one day before Naples, Florida police found his wife Guerline, 32, and their five children dead in their home on Saturday (9/19). Family members say their throats had been slit.
Haiti police didn’t say how they located Damas, or what his movements were between Friday and yesterday when he was caught. There also was no word on whether family members in Haiti helped harbor the fugitive who has not been charged in the murders.
Guerline Damas’ family had put up a $10,000 reward for information on Damas’ whereabouts.
The Damas’s lived together for 10 years and were married two years ago. Friends and family said the couple had a history of domestic violence and Damas was once arrested for domestic abuse.
Naples police are working with the FBI and Haitian authorities to extradite Damas back to the U.S.
