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| Leonardo and Steward Espinal |
After learning that his estranged wife was seeing another man, Leonardo Espinal took out his anger on his children. He placed rat poison on their pizza, Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson said at sentencing.
Leonardo Espinal, 49, of New York, has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for killing his 5 year old son and poisoning his 7 year old daughter with pizza that cotained rat poison because he was angry with his estranged wife.
The little girl, named Mia, vomited after eating the pizza. When her little brother, Steward, soiled himself, Espinal took him to the bathroom.
He placed the boy in the bathtub and submerged him in the water. He then called his estranged wife and said that it was her fault.
Espinal and Abreu had been together for about 10 years before she kicked him out of his apartment two weeks before the incident.
The woman made a desperate call to Espinal's stepmother, who contacted police. Meanwhile, Espinal attempted to commit suicide.
Officers broke the bathroom door and found Espinal in the bathtub cradling the lifeless, naked body of his son.
The little boy died from a combination of rat poison and being submerged in the water while the 7 year old daughter was found sleeping in her own vomit on the couch.
