‘Why would you do that?’ Dad kills mom in front of 8-year-old daughter, Florida cops say
A man in Florida is accused of threatening his parents and telling them his daughter was “in the hands of the devil” before killing the mother of his child and then kidnapping the 8-year-old.
Renato Muhaj, 34, was living with his parents in Clearwater on Jan. 29 when he went into their bedroom at about 2:30 a.m. and started arguing with them, police said in arrest documents.
During the argument, Mujah punched his dad in the face, breaking his teeth and the bone around his eye, police said.
His parents said they were going to call the police so Muhaj took their phones away, according to documents.
Muhaj grabbed a machete that was next to their bed and held it over his parents, according to the affidavit.
His parents “were holding onto each other and closed their eyes in fear that they were going to be killed by (their son),” police said.
His father was able to get away, police said, but his mother was trapped and locked in the room by Muhaj who then kicked her and shoved her.
When Muhaj went into another room his mother managed to escape and his parents called police to report the assault and ask for a wellness check on their granddaughter, an 8-year-old who lived with her mother, police said.
The man’s parents told police he had made a comment that “his daughter is in the hands of the devil” as he left the home, raising concern that he would go to his child’s home near Largo, according to arrest documents from the Largo Police Department.
Officers responded to the apartment where his daughter and her mother, Muhaj’s ex-girlfriend, lived to complete the wellness check, police said.
When they arrived they saw blood outside the door and a knife and brass knuckles covered in blood, Largo Police said.
Inside, officers found his ex-girlfriend, 32-year-old Suela Saliaj, covered in blood on her bedroom floor where she was pronounced dead, according to arrest documents.
Saliaj’s throat had been cut, police said.
Muhaj’s daughter was missing from the home and an Amber Alert was issued for the 8-year-old, suspected to be with her father, police said.
Muhaj and his daughter were found nearby later that morning in his car, according to documents, and the child was unharmed.
Muhaj had blood on his glasses and on his feet, and his clothes also smelled like blood, officers said.
When officers spoke with the 8-year-old, she told them she saw her dad hit her mom multiple times with the knife and brass knuckles in her bedroom, arrest documents said.
She said she knew her mom was dead because she asked her dad “Why would you do that?” to which he responded that he really wanted her to die, police said.
The 8-year-old said her dad had grabbed her and rushed her down the stairs causing her to fall, and he then dragged her on the concrete on the way to the car, according to documents.
He was taken into custody and faces charges from multiple jurisdictions.
He was charged with first-degree murder, child abuse and kidnapping by the Largo Police Department and battery, assault, false imprisonment and tampering with a witness by the Clearwater Police Department, arrest documents show.
Largo Police Chief Mike Loux said in a Jan. 29 news conference the investigation is ongoing and both departments are receiving assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Loux said the 8-year-old has been placed in custody of family members.
Clearwater and Largo are about 20 miles west of Tampa.
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