MIAMI – A mother took her fraternal twins to Chuck E. Cheese and McDonald’s in the hours before they were found dead and foaming at the mouth in her SUV, a Miami-Dade police detective testified during a pre-trial detention hearing Wednesday.
Detective Malia Carson said Shirlene Alcime, charged with two counts of child neglect, told her that she wanted 3-year-olds Milendhet and Milendhere Napoleon-Cadet to have one last good day.
While Alcime was not facing murder charges as of Wednesday, detectives wrote in a mid-February arrest report that the 42-year-old had been “planning, for approximately the last two months,” to “murder” her two children, due to financial troubles and debt.
The two children were found unresponsive in the SUV along Interstate 95 near the Florida’s Turnpike extension in the wee hours of Feb. 2. After a tow truck driver arrived at the scene, police said she told him to call 911; as police arrived, she jumped off an overpass in a failed attempt to take her own life.
Alcime, of North Miami Beach, wasn’t present during Wednesday’s hearing; she remained in the hospital.
“She got onto the side barrier of the highway and laid on it and rolled over the edge,” Miami-Dade police Officer Edwin Ramos testified.
Carson testified that officers found Alcime on a set of train tracks, “moaning and crawling.”
She testified that Carson told her that amid financial stress, her children would be “homeless or sleeping in a car” if left with their father.
Testifying about Alcime’s whereabouts in the hours before, Carson said Alcime told her she took the twins to Chuck E. Cheese and McDonald’s because “she wanted the kids to have a good day.”
“Then she put them in the car and began to drive around,” Carson said.
Carson said Alcime had no explanation as to why her twins were found foaming at the mouth in the vehicle.
Alcime’s attorneys argued she should be released, but Judge Ellen Venzer ordered she remain in custody, saying she believes Alcime is a danger to the community.
“The appropriate bond is no bond,” Venzer said.
Toxicology results are still pending in the case. During a previous hearing, another Miami-Dade judge raised the possibility of murder charges after the results come in.
Alcime has pleaded not guilty in the case. A status hearing was set for March 19.