Shirlene N. Alcime, Milendhet and Milendhere Napoleon-Cadet, and the scene where she allegedly jumped off the interstate overpass (WPLG screenshots)
A 42-year-old mother in Florida accused of leaving her 3-year-old fraternal twins to die in the back seat of a car atop an interstate overpass before trying to kill herself by leaping to the train tracks below tried to give her kids one final “good day” by taking them to McDonald’s and Chuck E. Cheese in the hours before their deaths, police say.
Shirlene Alcime is currently facing two counts of child neglect in connection with the children’s deaths, but authorities have indicated that additional charges such as murder may be filed when the preliminary investigation is complete. The results of toxicology screenings on the children are still pending.
She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, when police arrived at the overpass where Alcime had stopped her car, they could only watch as she “jumped over the expressway wall” and onto the tracks below. Inside the car, authorities found the two children unresponsive and foaming at the mouth. The kids were pronounced dead a short while later.
Miami-Dade Police Det. Malia Carson on Wednesday appeared in court for a pretrial bond hearing and testified about her disturbing interactions with the twins’ mother following the deaths of her children, Milendhet and Milendhere Napoleon-Cadet, and her own suicide attempt.
According to Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, Carson told the court that officers responding to the scene found Alcime on the train tracks below the interstate overpass from which she had jumped. The detective said that Alcime was “moaning and crawling” on the tracks.
Carson reportedly testified that when she was able to speak with Alcime, the mother allegedly said that her family was in dire financial straits and that her kids couldn’t be left alone with their father or else they would end up “homeless or sleeping in a car.”
When Carson asked Alcime what she and the kids had done before stopping on the overpass, Alcime reportedly responded that she had taken them to McDonald’s and Chuck E. Cheese, explaining that “she wanted the kids to have a good day,” WPLG reported. Alcime then reportedly said that she put the kids in the car and “began to drive around.”
According to Carson, Alcime could not explain how her twins were both foaming at the mouth in the moments before they died.
While Alcime was unable to attend Wednesday’s hearing because she is still hospitalized, Judge Ellen Venzer ruled that she is to remain incarcerated, reportedly saying that Alcime presented a danger to the community.
“The appropriate bond is no bond,” Venzer reportedly said during the hearing.
During a previous hearing, Florida Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer told Alcime that based on the available evidence, she appeared to have killed her own children.
“I am holding you with no bond on count one, for the child abuse, count two for child abuse, although I think there may be a probable cause for murder as well, but that’s up to the state to file that charge,” Florida Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer said last month. “That arrest affidavit, it looks like you killed your children, and you then tried to kill yourself, so that’s why there may be probable cause for different charges, but it’s up to the state’s attorney.”
In addition to alleged statements about giving the kids a last “good day,” Alcime also allegedly told police that she had been planning to kill the twins for about two months “due to her current financial status and multiple debt(s) that she owes.”
“She drove to different locations looking for a bridge to jump from,” police wrote. “The defendant admitted to contemplating jumping off the bridge with both victims or throwing them off one by one and then jumping to end their lives.”
Alcime is scheduled for another court appearance on March 19.
