Accused claims "voodoo" was involved
-
Joanne Zephir faces murder and attempted murder charges — and the death penalty. MUGSHOT/OSCEOLA COUNTY CORRECTIONS
The State Attorney for the Ninth Circuit announced it intends to seek the death penalty against a Kissimmee woman police say tried to kill herself and her children by ingesting bleach, after she had reportedly stabbed her husband in Orange County.
Joanne Zephir is scheduled to be tried in Osceola County court starting July 16 for first-degree murder of her three-year-old daughter, attempted first-degree murder of her eight-year-old, and attempted felony murder of her husband. She has been held at the Osceola County Jail without bond since her May 2022 arrest.
Prior stories:
Sheriff Lopez: Orange County woman found Sunday in Poinciana made children drink bleach to kill them
Murder charges for woman found at Poinciana church who made daughters drink bleach
Zephir, 38, was found in the parking lot of Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Church on Old Pleasant Hill Road in the middle of the night on May 8. She and her 3-year-old daughter were unconscious, and her 8-year-old daughter in the road by the church. Reports said Zephir had called a family member to say she had stabbed her husband the day before in Orlando and was going to turn herself into Orange County police with the children, but then called again to she was going to kill herself, and that she made the children drink bleach — a bottle of it was found in the trunk of her car — and drank some herself.
The 3-year-old died; the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office indicated the death was caused by strangulation. The 8-year-old and the Zephir’s husband were taken to hospitals for treatment and survived. The 8-year-old, who turned 10 on Saturday, was transferred to the care of a family member.
According to the arrest affidavit, Zephir told detectives she blamed a “voodoo” spell for forcing her to harm her children and husband.
The State Attorney’s office said Zephir became eligible for the death penalty after a grand jury indicted her on the first-degree murder charges in February.
In a notice to the court of the intent to seeking the death penalty, prosecutors said the decision is based on that the victim was younger than 12 years old, Zephir was in “a position of familial or custodial authority over the victim, and the capital felony being committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, aggravated child abuse.”
In December, a psychologist evaluated Zephir and found her competent to stand trial according to court documents, which also show the trial as been continued and rescheduled two other times.
