MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Shirlene Alcime appeared remotely in Miami-Dade County court on Friday after she was charged with child neglect in the deaths of her 3-year-old twins, who were found unresponsive and foaming at the mouth in her SUV along Interstate 95 on Feb. 2.
Alcime, of North Miami Beach, jumped off an overpass in a failed attempt to take her own life.
Judge Mindy Glazer appointed a public defender and ordered the 42-year-old, who listened from her hospital bed via Zoom, remain held without bond.
Police said Alcime told investigators that she had been “planning, for approximately the last two months,” to “murder” her two children, Milendhet and Milendhere Napoleon-Cadet, due to financial troubles and debt.
The report states that Alcime admitted to driving around all day on Feb. 1, “looking for a bridge to jump from,” settling for one in the northbound lanes near the Florida’s Turnpike extension early the next morning.
Alcime “admitted to contemplating jumping off the bridge with both victims or throwing them off one by one and then jumping to end their lives,” police wrote, and “admitted to walking away while both victims were foaming at the mouth, once she heard the police sirens.”
Before she jumped off the bridge in her failed suicide attempt, she told a tow truck driver who stopped to offer help to call 911 for her children, police said. The twins, a boy and a girl, were taken to Jackson North Medical Center where they were pronounced dead.
“During the course of the interview, (Alcime) provided detailed accounts as to her whereabouts and events that transpired with the two victims,” a detective wrote in the report. “However, when (she) was specifically asked what she gave the victims to ingest causing them to foam at the mouth and become unresponsive, she denied giving the victims anything and stated she does not know what happened.”
Police said they’re still awaiting a toxicology report from the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the twins’ cause and manner of death.
Glazer noted Friday that more charges will likely be added pending those results.
In court, Alcime attempted to interject when the judge noted that murder charges could come.
“Ms. Alcime, do not discuss your case with anyone except for your lawyer in a private setting. Do you understand?” an attorney said.
“Yeah, but she’s talking about murder,” Alcime said.
She was again reminded not to discuss the case in court.
“In that arrest affidavit, it looks like you killed your two children and you then tried to kill yourself,” Glazer then. “It’s up to the state to file charges.”
“What?” a confused and concerned Alcime said.
Family friends will be able to say one last goodbye to the twins when their toxicology results come back and their bodies are released by the medical examiner.