A Haines City, Florida man has been indicted in the murders of his girlfriend and her 6-year-old daughter. The murders happened at the Citrus Ridge Apartments on April 12. The couple lived together with their three children in the apartment.
A Polk County grand jury indicted Ernest Cherizard, 38, on 3 counts of murder in the deaths of Eli Junia Normil, 23, daughter Elizabeth Frenel, 6, and her grandmother Nicole Guillume, 48.
Elizabeth, who was airlifted to a trauma hospital and placed on life support, died a day later from gunshot wounds to her temple, face and arm.
Normil and Cherizard’s 18-month-old twins – a son and a daughter – were sleeping in another apartment in the complex and were not injured at the time of the shooting, according to police reports.
Police say Cherizard fled in Normil’s car. The car was found abandoned in the Miami Area.
Hours after the shootings, Cherizard took to Facebook to express his remorse and to confess to the murders. “Daddy is so sorry with all my heart cuz I can’t believe this happened,” he wrote.
“IDK what happened. all I know is we were fighting for the gun then I lost it. He continued, “And one thin [sic] [please] Guys don’t keep no guns at your home man [for real] I we had guns one for me [and] look now what happen I f—ed my life up and the one I truly the one I truly love and care bout I don’t think my kids deserve this at all they won’t know their mom this is pure evil and I’m not a evil person at All. I took a great person live from you now it’s time for me to pay for what I’ve done.”
Police say Cherizard shot Normil after they argued about him seeing his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his 5-year-old daughter, whom he said he had not seen since 2015.
After killing Normil, her mother stopped by the apartment and asked where her daughter was. Cherizard said she’d left. Guillume and Cherizard argued and, police say, he shot the woman twice outside the apartment.
After an intense manhunt, Cherizard turned himself in to Haines City police on Sunday. He is being held without bail at the Polk County Jail.
“I can’t say what I’d like to say about him. He’s a male, not a man. Not much of a man to shoot two females and a child,” said Haines City Police Chief Jim Ellensky.
In addition to the murder charges, the grand jury also indicted Cherizard on one count of tampering with physical evidence, a third-degree felony.
Prosecutors will decide in the coming weeks whether to seek the death penalty against Cherizard.
