Everything to Know About the Strangulation of a Pregnant Bahamian Woman in Orlando
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On Thursday, Orange County Police found the body of 29-year-old Joanna Gomez-Simo, who is a Bahamian living in Orlando, Florida.
The police were called to the home for a welfare check when family members reported that they were unable to reach her. Her boyfriend Pierre Floriant, 41, allowed authorities inside the Pointe Vista Apartments where they found the pregnant woman strangled to death in her bedroom where she lived with her four children.
Police have since arrested Floriant and charged him with murder.
What happened the day Joanna Gomez-Simo was found dead
It is not known when she was strangled to death but her phone went unanswered for days. She was found with a blanket covering her body as Floriant stayed in the home.
After the murder, he dropped off their 6-month-old child for someone to keep for the night then returned to the apartment. And when the police arrived to investigate the home after a welfare complaint was made, he opened the door to permit them inside where they found the woman, who was 20 weeks pregnant, already dead.
Floriant said he believed Gomez-Simo was cheating on him and he did not want the baby.
Pierre Floriant abused Joanna Gomez-Simo before her death
Floriant has a history of domestic abuse stemming from December of last year when he punched Gomez-Simo in the stomach and neck to abort the baby. Because she refused he said, “he would perform the abortion himself,” she reported to the police before her death.
She had reached out to the police for help in times past when she wished to pursue criminal charges against Floriant. She was recently named as a victim in a Domestic Violence Aggravated Battery case involving Floriant as the defendant.
But Gomez-Simo moved out of state and was no longer in fear for her life so she dropped the charges against him.
The prosecution office said despite her desire to drop the case, it continued to investigate the matter but stated there was insufficient evidence to move forward with criminal charges and prove the case “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Gomez-Simo admitted to police that there were two other cases that were unreported where Floriant abused her.
What are the charges?
Floriant confessed to the killing and is charged with 1st-degree murder and the killing of an unborn child.
