MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Attorneys for the Miami-Dade mother charged after the deaths of her two children pleaded not guilty on her behalf in court on Tuesday.
Shirlene Alcime is accused of trying to take her own life by jumping off an I-95 overpass near the Golden Glades Interchange while her 3-year-old twins were inside her SUV, unresponsive and foaming at the mouth.
Alcime, 42, was not in court for Tuesday’s arraignment.
During the brief hearing, prosecutors mentioned they were still waiting for the results of a toxicology test to determine whether additional charges will be filed.
As it stands now, Alcime is only facing a child neglect charge.
The case is expected to come up in court again next month, at which point prosecutors hope to have the toxicology results.
According to authorities, 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.
A police 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.