Sheriff: 13-year-old Orange girl fatally stabbed, left in utility closet at apartment complex
A convicted child abuser stalked and then stabbed a 13-year-old girl at an Orange County apartment complex July 4, and may have sexually assaulted her, according to law enforcement.
Sheriff John Mina offered new details about suspect Jerry Loreeson Dorisme, 28, who is charged with the first-degree murder of Rose Dieujuste, during a morning news conference at the agency’s Central Operations on Colonial Drive in Orlando.
He said Dorisme was arrested Thursday night and was at the Sheriff’s Office for eight hours but refused to speak, leaving investigators to try to piece together the truth — and possible motives — from surveillance video and testimony of people in the community.
“Rose’s murder shook our community, and our agency. Anytime a child is murdered, we all collectively grieve. I’m a father, our detectives are all parents, and this is very, very hard on them and of course, the community,” Mina said. “And we can’t even imagine the pain and anguish that Rose’s family and loved ones are going through right now.
“In the end, this was a result of great detective work, our help from the media partners and tips from many people in the community.”
No known connection
Dorisme — a Haitian immigrant who came to the U.S. legally in 2008 — did not appear to know Dieujuste but used to live in the area, frequently visited and had been seen watching girls there, Mina said. Community members, some of whom were able to identify him by name, were crucial in his arrest.
The sheriff said there were signs Dieujuste was sexually assaulted but the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is still collecting and analyzing evidence for confirmation.
“In my 33 years of law enforcement experience, this is a crime that is hard to predict and … hard to prevent,” Mina said. “So when our community sees people who are acting strangely and suspicious, they don’t need to be afraid, they need to call us and let us know that ‘hey, we’re concerned about this person,’ you know, and maybe we can do something to prevent something like this from happening.”
Prior criminal history
Dorisme was arrested for lewd and lascivious molestation on a child in 2020, a charge ultimately reduced to child abuse, the sheriff said. He was sentenced to 366 days for the child abuse charge in 2021, according to court records.
Mina said a few weeks ago deputies were called after someone saw him walking down the street with a knife. After they arrived, he dropped the knife but ended up punching three deputies. He was Baker Acted as a result. The Baker Act, a state law passed in 1971, allows for involuntary psychiatric examination for up to 72 hours.
Affidavit provides timeline
An affidavit for the arrest warrant of Dorisme was released shortly after the news conference with additional information about the day of the crime.
The Sheriff’s Office believes Dieujuste was on her way to visit a friend in another building early in the afternoon at the Palmetto at Lakeside apartment complex on South Rio Grande Avenue when she was attacked, according to the affidavit.
Surveillance video from the complex shows someone — now believed to be Dorisme — following behind Dieujuste as she walked to her friend’s building. Her friend found Dieujuste’s cellphone and shoes in a stairway and told Rose’s family.
The affidavit said Dieujuste’s brother then began knocking on doors to see if anyone had seen her, eventually opening a utility closet door underneath the stairs where he found her lying on the ground unresponsive. He pulled her out and did CPR until emergency personnel arrived.
The affidavit said upon arrival around 2:25 p.m., deputies found Dieujuste partially naked and stabbed. She was transported to a hospital where she was declared dead at 3:14 p.m.
Evidence points to Dorisme
The affidavit said police found packaging for a large knife, believed to be the murder weapon, at the scene. They then uncovered video from a store in a shopping plaza across the street that showed a man of similar appearance to the one following Dieujuste in the complex’s surveillance video — now believed to be Dorisme — using cash to buy that same kitchen knife around 11:30 a.m. that day, the affidavit said. Minutes later, video surveillance shows him entering the apartment complex.
Dieujuste’s father, brother and cousin were all home the day of the murder. They said they left their apartment for less than 15 minutes to walk to the gas station to get beer, which video from the complex supports.
When they left, they saw no cellphone or shoes on the stairway. The affidavit said when they returned, they saw an unfamiliar man walking away from the stairway — now believed to be Dorisme. They then saw the shoes and cellphone on the stairs. Detectives believe the killing occurred in that short timeframe according to the affidavit.
Dieujuste’s father went back outside after he saw the shoes and cellphone but the man was gone, the affidavit said.
Community aids arrest
The Sheriff’s Office released a photo and video of the suspect Wednesday and included a bulletin from Crimeline offering a $5,000 reward for information that could identify him. Dorisme was arrested Thursday night at an apartment complex leasing office on Silver Star Road after a 911 call from someone who identified him from the news release, according to the affidavit.
Detectives then located Dorisme’s father, who identified him as the person in the complex surveillance footage, according to the affidavit. He then took detectives to Dorisme’s aunt’s house, where he sometimes stays.
Detectives found a large bucket there containing the clothing worn in the surveillance footage and a blue drawstring laundry bag carried in the footage, the affidavit said. The pants found in the bucket tested positive for blood.
