5 year old Phoebe Jonchuck dies after her father threw her from bridge

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/08/child-dies-thrown-off-bridge/21430711/
Police: Child, 5, dies after father threw her from bridge
January 8, 2014

 
According to St. Petersburg police, an officer was heading southbound toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge when a Chrysler PT Cruiser passed him going about 100 mph.

The officer tried to stop the suspect, identified as John Nicholas Jonchuck Jr., but when the car was near the top of the Dick Misener Bridge on the approach to the skyway, the officer witnessed the driver stop and throw his daughter, Phoebe Jonchuck, over the side of the rail into the water.

Jonchuck, 25, got back in the car and drove south, and was eventually stopped by Manatee County Sheriff''s deputies about 30 minutes later.

The child was located about an hour later and taken to All Children's Hospital but was pronounced dead at 2:44 a.m. Thursday, public information officer Yolanda Fernandez said.

Several dive teams, including from the Coast Guard, were involved in the search for the child. She was recovered by dive teams from Eckerd College.

Police say Jonchuck, who lived with his parents in Tampa, Fla., had custody of his daughter. Authorities have contacted the girl's mother, who also lives in Tampa.

Police have charged Jonchuck with first-degree murder, aggravated fleeing and eluding and aggravated assault with a motor vehicle on a law enforcement officer.

[MuffyBee]

 



http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/08/5-year-old-dies-after-being-thrown-from-bridge-florida-police-say/
Father facing murder charges after 5-year-old girl thrown to death from Tampa bridge
January 8, 2015

 
John Nicholas Jonchuck's daughter, Phoebe, fell about 60 feet over the Sunshine Skyway bridge into the bay, St. Petersburg police Chief Anthony Holloway said at a news conference.

Fernandez said in an earlier statement that a St. Petersburg police officer saw the suspect throw the girl in the water. A St. Petersburg Police Officer was heading home southbound toward the bridge when he said a Chrysler PT Cruiser passed him going about 100 miles per hour. Once he'd reached the top of the bridge and entered the approach to the Skyway, the officer said the driver stopped his white PT Cruiser.

Holloway said Jonchuck, 25, got out and started toward the officer, who pulled his weapon. But Jonchuck went around to the passenger side of the car and got the child out.

The officer "thought he heard the child scream, but he wasn't sure," Holloway said. The officer then saw the man throw the child over, into the strong bay current.

Jonchuck then got back in the car and drove south for about 30 minutes before officials said Manatee County authorities stopped him near an exit.

"The suspect drove off," Holloway said. "He just drove off."

Holloway said Jonchuck turned his blinker on and stopped before starting again and driving toward deputies. He then headed the wrong way on the interstate, going back toward the bridge. Deputies put out traffic spikes to stop the vehicle.

Jonchuck was arrested and brought back to St. Petersburg for questioning. He's being held without bond on the murder charge.
Police said Jonchuck was not cooperating with authorities questioning him. 

"He lawyered up," Holloway said. "He really didn't want to talk."

Jail records didn't list the name of Jonchuck's attorney. But Jonchuck is scheduled for an initial court appearance Thursday afternoon.

In addition to the murder charge, Jonchuck also faces charges of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle on a law enforcement officer and aggravated fleeing and eluding police.

Jonchuck was arrested in 2013 on battery domestic violence charges in Hillsborough County and placed on probation, according to TampaBayonline.com. He also was charged with driving under the influence in 2013, records show.

Authorities said Jonchuck filed a domestic violence report against the child's mother last month, but it wasn't granted. He had custody of the child, and they lived with his father in Tampa. Authorities didn't release information about the girl's mother.

An autopsy is pending.

Two fishermen in the area told MyFoxTampaBay they were not far from the scene when it all went down. They approached the search parties, saw a flashlight coming from land and were soon asked by a member of law enforcement if they would lend a hand in the search.

"He said, 'You know the waters; take me where you think she'll possibly be,'" Bobby Hay, one of the fishermen said. "So we ran right over where the tide was going one way, and the wind breaking the opposite way -- where I thought she would be."

They received a call about 40 minutes later that another search crew from the Eckerd College Search and Rescue found Phoebe.

"We weren't far off," said Hay.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/police-girl-5-dies-after-father-throws-her-from-sunshine-skyway-approach/2212878
Police: Girl, 5, dies after father drops her from Sunshine Skyway approach
January 8, 2015


Authorities say the top of the Dick Misener Bridge, where John Nicholas Joncraft, 25, is accused of dropping his 5-year-old daughter to her death, is about 62 feet above the water. [JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times]



 
Just after midnight, a St. Petersburg Police officer was driving home, headed south toward the Sunshine Skyway, when a Chrysler PT Cruiser passed him going an estimated 100 mph near the Bayway exit.

The officer caught up with the car near the Interstate 275 Maximo Park exit, where the driver braked hard and stopped before continuing south.

The driver, later identified as John Nicholas Jonchuck Jr., 25, of Tampa, stopped again near the top of the Dick Misener Bridge on the Skyway approach. The officer stopped about a car length behind the Chrysler. Jonchuck then walked toward the officer, prompting the officer to draw his weapon.

The officer said Jonchuck said something he couldn't make out, went to the passenger side of the vehicle and grabbed the girl, later identified as his daughter Phoebe Jonchuck, 5. He lifted her under her arms with her face pressed to his chest, walked to the edge of the bridge and dropped her to the water about 62 feet below.

St. Petersburg Police Chief Tony Holloway said it was unclear at the time whether Phoebe was alive when dropped from the bridge, although the officer at the scene said he thought he heard her scream as she fell.

"I've been doing this job for 29 years," Holloway said, "and I don't even know what was going through this guy's mind."

The officer immediately went to the side of the bridge to try to locate the girl. Jonchuck got back in his car and drove south over the Skyway.

Officers spotted him five minutes later in Manatee County and followed him without activating their pursuit lights. Eventually, Jonchuck made a U-turn and drove the wrong way on I-75, heading directly at officers.

Eventually, stop sticks were deployed and Jonchuck was stopped. He declined to speak or step out of the car when officers approached. They broke the car's windows, and Jonchuck was taken to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office for questioning.

A search for the girl began immediately, as southbound lanes of I-275 were closed. The Coast Guard assisted.

The Eckerd College Search and Rescue team found the girl about a half-mile east of where she was thrown into the water, police said. They tried to revive her, but she was pronounced dead after she was taken to the hospital sometime before 3:20 a.m.
 
Phoebe's mother, who was not immediately identified, lives in the area and was contacted by police. Jonchuck had legal custody of the girl, police said.

Melody Dishman, 25, Jonchuck's childhood friend from sixth grade and former landlord, was in hysterics Thursday morning over the news. "That girl was only f - - - - - - five," she said, crying. "She had the most beautiful smile. She was so funny. She had the cutest laugh."

Jonchuck and Phoebe lived with Dishman for two months in 2014 and moved out about three months ago, she said.

"He told me he had nowhere to go, so I offered him a bedroom for her," Dishman said.

Dishman's boyfriend, Manuel Almanza, 30, said Jonchuck seemed to be an "excellent father." Though, Dishman saw him differently.

Jonchuck would frequently yell at Phoebe and lock her in her bedroom, she said. "She didn't want to be around John," Dishman said." I could see it in her eyes."

But he never hit her, Dishman said. "I would never think that he would have hurt her."

Dishman, who said she was fighting for custody of her own children, considered Phoebe a daughter. "I never had a baby girl, I only had two boys," she said, between sobs. "If he didn't want her, he should have just given her away."

On Tuesday, Dishman said, she received scary text messages from Jonchuck in which he called her names and claimed to have found Jesus. She called police and officers recommended she file for a restraining order.

Jonchuck had been staying with his father, John Jonchuck Sr., 57, since he moved out of Dishman's house. His father said Jonchuck and Phoebe had been at the house Wednesday night and must have left for the Skyway after he had gone to bed. The father said he did not hear any fighting, that night or any other time.

Phoebe's grandmother and Jonchuck's mother, Michelle, said she saw the child last night at her other grandparents' house.
 

State records show Jonchuck has been charged with domestic battery six times since 2008, though the charges were dropped in every case. He also faced a DUI charge in 2013. He reportedly sought a domestic violence injunction against Phoebe's mother late last month. His petition was denied.
 

[MuffyBee]

A bit more of the story:


http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/girl-found-dead-after-being-thrown-bridge-st-petersburg-florida-n282036
Girl Found Dead After Being Thrown Off Bridge in St. Petersburg, Florida
January 8, 2015

 
The man got out of his car and the officer drew his weapon. "The suspect started talking, but the officer didn't understand what he was saying," the chief said. The man then walked over to the passenger's side door and pulled out a child, her face buried in his chest. The suspect tossed the girl over the guard rail, and she plummeted about 60 feet into the cold waters, Holloway said.

It wasn't clear if the girl — Phoebe Jonchuck — was alive at that moment, and investigators are awaiting the results of a medical examiner's report to determine when the kindergartner died. "I don't even know what was going through this guy's mind," Holloway said.

While the officer climbed down one of the bridge's ladders to find the girl, the suspect peeled off. Two officers who were on their way home heard a call come in about the incident and were able to locate Jonchuck across the bridge, Holloway said. He was apprehended, but didn't want to talk.

Meanwhile, search and rescue teams recovered the little girl's body from the water after 1 a.m. ET, after currents carried it about a mile from the scene. Attempts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead about an hour-and-a-half later, police spokeswoman Yolanda Fernandez told NBC News.
 

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