Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 7 Creepy Details About Florida Teen Accused Slitting Mom's Throat

Episode Date: November 22, 2025

Derek Rosa, 15, is scheduled to go on trial in January 2026 for the gruesome murder of his mother. Rosa called 911 in 2023 and told the 911 dispatcher that he stabbed his mother, Irina Garcia, to death, according to Miami-Dade County prosecutors. Now new, grisly details about what Rosa allegedly said and did before and after the crime are coming out in newly-filed court documents. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the new details in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/CrimeFixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Philip Dubé https://x.com/PhilipCDubeProducer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Uh, 2001. That was then 13-year-old Derek Rosa on a call to 911 after police say he brutally stabbed his mother killing her. The murder of Irina Garcia, it was shocking as her son readily admitted that he killed her. You killed her? All right. Now we're learning new details about Derek Rose's Google searches and a possible motive in the murder tied to Friday the 13th.

I'm Ann Jeanette Levy and this is crime fix. There's a reason that Morgan and Morgan is the country's largest personal injury law firm. It's because the firm wins a lot. Morgan and Morgan has more than a thousand. lawyers who have recovered $25 billion from more than 500,000 clients. In the last few months, a client in Florida got $12 million when insurance offered just $350,000. In Pennsylvania, another client was awarded $26 million. That was 40 times the insurer's offer. Morgan and Morgan makes it easy to fight for what you deserve. You can even start a claim from your phone. It's that easy. So if you're

ever injured. You can start a claim at forthepeople.com slash crime fix. Click the link below or scan the QR code that you see right there on your screen. Derek Rosa's trial for the murder of his mother, Irene Garcia, it's scheduled to begin at the end of January 2026. This crime was brutal, absolutely brutal, and a camera in Garcia's bedroom recorded it. Irene Garcia, she had just given birth to a baby girl 14 days before Derek is accused of stabbing her more than 40 times, even cutting her on her throat on October 12, 2023. It was just after 11 p.m. on Thursday, October 12th, when Derek is accused of attacking his mother with a knife. And I want you to remember that date and time because it's going to

become very important here at a bit when it comes to evidence that prosecutors want to introduce at Derek's trial. Derek actually called 911 and prosecutors and police say, he confessed in detail to the call taker to killing his own mother. We've seen still images from the security camera in Irina Garcia's bedroom that showed Derek standing over his mom's bed, his newborn baby half-sister, in her crib nearby. Two hundred or one? Videos showed Derek placing that 911 call and telling the call takers his apartment number and other videos show him walking in and out of the apartment.

The officers, I see officers. Do I leave? Do I leave my house? Okay. Later, police took Derek into an interview room. Derek, come over here, there. I'll see right there for me, please. Okay. How's it going, Derek? The detectives questioned Derek Rosa about his mom's death. Explain to me about the apartment.

You have your own room? Yes. And your mom? Yes, she has an room. She has her own room and your sister? She stays in the same room as my mom. Stayes in the same room and your mom? And tonight, who is all there?

Me and my mom and my sister. Okay, so you went to sleep around 10? Yeah. Okay, and then what? I woke up. You killed her? What type of, what type of knife was it, do you know? know? It was just a big size kitchen knife. That big? Yeah. What color was the handle? Purple. Purple? Yes. Okay. Your mom was sleeping?

Yeah, she was sleeping. Explain to me. Well, we'll get into that a little later. What did you do after you killed her? my stepdad has I mean he owns two guns he has a lot 19 okay and then uh I don't what to call it another one okay what color are they the Glock 19 is black and then the other one has a silver slide and then like a dark bluish handle okay um so what did you do with the guns he always has a logger and seen with them at all times. Mm-hmm. And since he's a truck driver,

he was at home, he was far away. Okay. So I went into the closet. Mm-hmm. I found his bootback because he goes shooting at gun ranges. Okay. I grabbed the gun. I put the magazine in the gun.

Okay. I pulled back to slide, but I didn't want to shoot myself. Okay. I intended to show myself before, but I couldn't. Okay. And then what did you do? I decided to call my friends to tell them what happened. And then I said goodbye to my friends.

You called them before you decided to try to show yourself or afterwards? After. Okay. An autopsy determined that Irene Garcia had been stabbed a total of 46 times in the head, neck, shoulder, back, and thigh. Prosecutors say one sharp wound missed Irene's carotid artery by just one millimeter. meter. Prosecutors have written bloody footprints led from the body of Irina Garcia into the bathroom and then into the bedroom's walk-in closet. At the time, the defendant was apprehended. His feet were covered in blood. Prosecutors want to introduce what they're calling similar fact or

inextricably intertwined evidence at Derek's trial in January. They believe this evidence will prove certain facts and show motive. Prosecutors don't have to prove motive in a murder case, but they often like to present a motive to a jury, and they're revealing new information about the case they say show Derek was fascinated by blood, gore, and death. Prosecutors wrote, on September 30th, 2023, two weeks prior to the homicide, on or about 10, 12 p.m. The defendant sent a group text message to other students from his school asking, do you want me to scare you? A minute later, the defendant sent the group chat a graphic video depicting a 33-year-old American Army Reserve serviced named Ronnie McNutt. McNutt livestreamed his own death on a Facebook live in 2020,

and prosecutors say Derek Rosa sent that video to a group of students in the group chat with a smiley face emoji with a gun next to it. And the students were disgusted and horrified. Derek also typed RIP Bozo. Prosecutors have also revealed some of Derek Rosa's Google searches. Those include where is the best place to stab someone? The carotid artery. Is a small knife good for killing? And can a knife cut through bone? The day before Derek Rosa is accused of killing his mom, prosecutors say he sent a message to a friend about Halloween costumes. The prosecutor wrote, on October 11, 2023, the defendant asks the teen for scary Halloween costume ideas. After some conversation, the defendant decides, I'm doing Jason. It should be noted that Jason Voorhees is a fictional character in the Friday the 13th horror movie series where he typically uses a machete to kill his victims. Now, the next day, prosecutors say Derek Rosa showed his girlfriend that Ronnie McNutt video as they rode the school bus home from school, and he told her he thought it was funny. Prosecutors say that girl broke up with Derek. Prosecutors go on to write.

Further, the evidence demonstrates that the defendant was motivated, at least in part, due to a morbid fascination with blood, gore, and death, as well as his desire to share this interest with others. Indeed, the selfie photo depicts the defendant posing with his blood-stained hand, with his tongue stuck out in a playful manner. This photo was taken immediately following the tragic killing of his mother, less than an hour before midnight on Friday the 13th. Prosecutors also believe that Derek Rosa was motivated in part by a desire to simply shock other people. They say he sent photos of his mother's dead body to a friend who didn't really believe these photos were real. All right. So joining me to talk about these horrific new details that we're

learning about the case involving Derek Rosa and the murder of his mother is Philip Dubay. He worked as court-appointed counsel for many years in Los Angeles County. Philip, Derek Rosa could very easily have been your client. You know, you could have represented him. at trial. So tell me your first thoughts on reading some of the details in this other axe motion. I mean, they're saying, the prosecutors are saying they have Google searches where before his mother's murder, he is saying things like, or he's searching on Google, where's the best place to stab someone, the carotid artery he's searching. Is a small knife good for killing? Can a knife cut through bone. I mean, these are pretty bad, really bad facts, if you will. I know that's what

defense attorneys like to call items like these. Yeah, but this is a classic example of how mom must have had her head in the sand. Certainly, she saw sort of clues or problems or noticed issues with the kid, and you would think that there would have been some type of an intervention. This doesn't just emerge out of nowhere. Obviously, there must have been some type of ramblings that started a while ago, that maybe she noticed certain publications or that he was going online and watching what we call gorecore or carnography, as it were, and did nothing about it. Not to say that mom had it coming or anything, but certainly it is escalating. And sometimes the experts will tell you, They ascribe it to that nature versus nurture effect, meaning, you know, they say, for example, that a sociopath is made, but a psychopath is born.

So what is it? Was this environmental? Was it from a permissive upbringing? Or was he just a bad seed, you know? And sometimes it could just be that genetically, he was completely wonky and just wired to be a sadist, you know, to be committing, um, you know, just horrific homicidal acts of aggression. And there was really no way to predict unless mom came forward and told people what this kid was doing that this could ever even happen. And then lo and behold, it actually comes to fruition. And she met a very violent, terrible, grisly demise. I mean, so I don't know about mom because mom had a lot going on. mom had a newborn baby. Derek was like an A&B student. That's what he told the cops when they interviewed him. I mean, there were these good, you know, family pictures with him standing with her and his stepdad. I mean, things did not look bad, not that they ever do. Nobody posts

really bad pictures of their life on Facebook and on social media. I mean, maybe mom had an inkling. but like she had a lot going on she had a newborn baby to take care of i mean this is some crazy stuff the the prosecutors are saying he was fascinated with like gore and friday the 13th i mean they think the motive here it sounds like they think the motive was that it was coming up on friday the 13th it's like an hour away from friday the 13th and he decides to kill his mom why mom i don't know I'm confounded by this. Like, we still don't know why he targeted his mother allegedly. I mean, he's pleaded not guilty.

I mean, I'm kind of wondering what the defense is going to be here because there is video. There is photographic evidence of him committing this homicide. Yeah, it is horrific. It's a form of appetite of aggression, they call it, meaning that for whatever reason, they either get drawn to violent videos, violent novels, violent literature,

and then before you know it, they start watching like live events, like, for example, the Robbie McNutt suicide. He got fixated on that in 2020. He was a U.S. vet who suffered from PTSD and literally live streamed his own fatal shooting. I mean, he literally took a gun to underneath his chin, and of course it aired all over social media.

I think it made it to TikTok, Facebook, if I'm not mistaken. And he watched that and actually got a kid. kick out of it. And I think it's sort of a mixed bag of kids not understanding the finality of death and that there really is no thrill in it and that in fact is psychopathic in nature. Why would anybody want to watch that? What could you possibly gain from that? And mom missed the cues. And I'm not, again, I'm not trying to victim shame mom, but certainly there must have been signs that something was up with her kid. And yes, I understand she had a newborn, but that doesn't mean you abdicate all responsibility to children that came before the baby. You still have an

ongoing maternal duty to get your kid help when you see these types of abnormalities. The problem that this young man has going for him legally is what we call the Miller v. Alabama factors. It used to be before 2012 that children could not per se get life in prison for various types of crimes, but they came back, the U.S. Supreme Court came back and said that in the interest of justice, a court can find that a minor who commits a capital offense could be sentenced to life without parole, not death, but life without parole if it's proportionate to the facts of the case. And we saw this, for example, in Mississippi last year. Do you remember Carly Gregg, the 14-year-old girl just out of nowhere on video, shot up her mother, and

then tried to kill her stepfather, she got Elwop, and a jury sentenced her to that, you know? So this kid's in some pretty serious trouble. In Florida, you can be fitnessed up into adult court by a grand jury at any age for capital murder. So in theory, if he would have done this at 10, 11, 12, he would face the same music. It's really a tragedy when you think about it. Because at the end of the day, what the legislature is saying is, we don't feel that this child can ever be rehabilitated in the juvenile justice system. And I think in Florida, they can only lock you up for a maximum of six years to the age of 21. So the question for the experts would be, can he be rehabilitated? And then it's going to be up for a jury to decide if he

should get L lock. I think with these facts, it's going to be very difficult for the defense to try to convince a jury that Derek Rosa can be rehabilitated. This is the kind of thing. I don't know how you come back from this. I mean, he took pictures of his mother laying in a pool of blood, according to the prosecution, and sent them to people afterward. He got joy and pleasure out of this. According to what the prosecutors are writing, he was laughing about this.

I mean, this is his mother. This is the woman who gave. birth to him. And she was attacked in her sleep. I mean, that, it doesn't get any more cold and callous and chilling than that, Philip. I know, but not to be devil's advocate. Remember, we're talking about a 13-year-old, okay? What would be the harm? I'm not saying to set him free. Don't get me wrong. Send him to prison, but with what we call an indeterminate sentence, an indefinite period of time without life, without parole. on the end of it, meaning maybe in 20, 30 years, at least let a parole board look at his progress

in prison and see if he has been rehabilitated, to see if he has developed an insight into what he did, and to see if he is getting proper treatment, and then leave it up to parole to see if he should ever get out. If they say no, then so be it, but at least give him a chance at rehabilitation because of his tender age. Who knows? Maybe there'll be some type of drug that comes out in the next 10, 20 years that can fix the young man.

Right now, I don't believe we have anything in modern medicine short of behavioral therapy that can fix this or otherwise just sedate him to the point where he's constantly loopy. But in order to really fix sort of the miscircuitry in the brain, right now, yes, he does need to be locked up. But why not at least give him a shot

at going before the parole board, let's say, in 20, 30 years. I just don't know how you come back from doing something like this. I don't know how the brain, a brain capable of doing this and then just kind of sitting there and being like telling the cops like, yeah, I did it. Yeah, I did it. It was, you know, and then you're laughing about it with your friends on text messages and whatever. I don't see how the brain heals from that and comes back.

and then all of a sudden, after years and years of incarceration, you are deemed fit and safe to become a productive member of society and that you're trusted not to harm people again. Like, that's a big ask. Of course it is. And, you know, doesn't mean it'll ever happen. Doesn't mean he'll ever get out. But at least give him a shot. Remember, they can always turn him down and just say, look, you're still a danger.

you don't have insight. You're not following the program here in prison. We're not going to let you out so you can do this again. But what if he really is making progress? Let's say after the 10 years stretch. He's becoming a man. He's now in his mid-20s. He's constantly medicated. He's in treatment. He's developing a real conscience. That he really is not the psychopath that everybody thought he was. That maybe it really was sociopathic where he didn't have empathy for people to the point where he would commit matricide, kill his own mother. But perhaps by utilizing and availing himself to all the resources in the Department of Corrections, they can rehabilitate him. It's just that he cannot be rehabilitated in the juvenile justice system soon enough because they have to cut him loose at age 21.

That's the legal problem. But at least give him a shot at rehabilitation in the adult court system. Otherwise, you know what the message is? You might as well kill and get your money's worth because you're never getting out anyway. Might as well kill 20 people, 30 people. They can't get death because he was under 18. At least give him a shot at freedom, something to look forward to and to work toward. Well, I want to hear what the defense is going to be at trial.

I really want to hear it. I want to hear what they're going to present, what they're going to say, because I'm sure they're going to have experts that are going to say X, Y, and Z about Derek Rosa. So let's hear at defense. That's all I got to say. Philip Dubay, thank you so much. Thank you back. Derek Rosa remains in jail in Miami-Dade County. And he's actually aged a little bit. He's now 15 years old since his arrest. He will be back in court later this month. And his trial again is set for the end of January, 2026. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time. Thank you.