ANDRES SANCHEZ - 4 yo (2001)/ Convicted: Mother's BF; Luis Gerardo Rosario - Kissimmee FL

A man has been arrested for the murder of a boy that
happened nine years ago. Luis Rosario was a suspect in the death of
4-year-old Andres Sanchez in 2001, but he was arrested just a few days
ago after new evidence revealed that the child was suffocated.Osceola
County Sheriff's detectives arrested Luis Gerardo Rosario who was
charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death
of Andres Sanchez, which occurred on April 16, 2001 when Andres was
four years old.
At the time of Andres' death, Rosario and the child's mother were living together.On
April 16, 2001, deputies responded to Hali Ridge Court in reference to
an unresponsive child. When deputies arrived, Rosario told them that
earlier in the day he had taken Andres to swim at a friend's house in
Winter Springs. He said Andres had swallowed some water and had vomited,
but seemed fine. Rosario told officers when they returned home, Andres
fell out of the car and struck his face on the pavement.Rosario
told deputies Andres had gone to bed shortly after arriving home, then
when he checked on the child around 1:55am he found him unresponsive.
The boy's mother called 911.Andres died shortly after being
transported to Celebration Hospital.
About ten months later, Andres'
death was ruled a homicide and the medical examiner confirmed the cause
of death was suffocation.Rosario was a suspect because he was the
only person with the child when the incident happened, but there was
not enough evidence to charge him.
Since 2001, Rosario has been arrested for numerous drug and violent felony offenses.Detectives
reopened the investigation in August of 2008. In October, detectives
interviewed witnesses living near the child's residence when the
incident occurred, and they also spoke with Andres' mother who provided
leads for the detectives.Detectives learned Rosario was housed at
a state mental hospital and was ruled incompetent to stand trial for
previous charges from an Orange County case.  However, Rosario’s doctors
have recently ruled him competent to stand trial, including the new
first-degree murder charge and the previous charges.
Investigators
obtained new evidence in the child’s murder case, but will not reveal
what it is. That new evidence was presented to a grand jury.On
July 15, Osceola County Sheriff's detectives contacted Rosario, who
refused to cooperate with the investigation, and was charged with
first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. He was booked into the
Osceola County jail.
The home where Andres Sanchez was murdered has a new family, but the neighborhood is still not back to normal.“It's tragic, tragic especially a little boy,” a neighbor said.Even those, who moved to the neighborhood after the boy died, are shocked his murder went unprosecuted for nearly a decade.“Especially if you lived next door, and you can imagine that little kid playing in the yard, and playing outside,” she said.When
he died, Andres' mother didn't' have money for a grave site and burial,
so investigators put their money together for a grave marker to honor
him.

Case Schedule

Date Start Time Event Type Result 06/06/2011 09:00 AM JURY TRIAL

http://198.140.240.34/pa/

Date Start Time Event Type Result
10/10/2011 09:00 AM JURY TRIAL
09/27/2011 08:45 AM PRE-TRIAL
http://198.140.240.34/pa/

Felon convicted of cold-case murder of girlfriend's 4-year-old son
Luis Gerardo Rosario was sentenced to life in prison.

May 1, 2013
By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel

A longtime felon was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of his girlfriend's 4-year-old son in Osceola County.

Rosario had long been a suspect in the April 2001 death of Andres Sanchez, but he was not indicted by a grand jury until April 2010.

Rosario told deputies the boy swallowed water while swimming at a friend's house in Winter Springs, vomited, then fell out of the car and hit his face on the pavement when they got home to west Osceola, records show.

Relatives told deputies Andres was at a pool party with his mother and Rosario and hit his forehead and nose on a pool deck.

A medical examiner 10 months later ruled the death a homicide caused by suffocation, but the case grew cold until detectives reopened it in 2009 and obtained more evidence.

Andres died at Florida Hospital Celebration Health on April 16, 2001.

Rosario has served prison time for possessing heroin and bringing contraband into a detention facility, both in Osceola County, and for home-invasion robbery in Orange County.

He is awaiting trial in a 2006 Orange County carjacking and armed-robbery case after being deemed competent to spend trial following a stint in a state mental hospital.

Rosario also has been convicted of marijuana possession.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-05-01/news/os-child-murder-cold-case-conviction-20130501_1_luis-gerardo-rosario-death-penalty-4-year-old-son

Luis Gerardo Rosario, 37, of Winter Springs immediately was sentenced to life in prison, the only option because the state did not seek the death penalty.