Just four days before a jury was set to be seated for a highly anticipated murder trial, the legal proceedings against Derek Rosa came to a sudden, quiet end. Rosa, now 15, appeared in court Friday to plead guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the 2023 stabbing death of his mother, Irina Garcia.
The plea deal closes a case that has disturbed the South Florida community since the night of October 13, 2023. Rosa, who was 13 at the time, attacked his mother while she slept in their Hialeah apartment.
According to authorities, 39-year-old Garcia was stabbed 46 times. In a harrowing detail revealed by investigators, Rosa’s two-week-old sister was lying in a crib next to the bed throughout the attack.
The date of the killing appeared to be significant to the teenager. Prosecutors alleged that Rosa had expressed a desire to emulate “Jason,” the fictional killer from the Friday the 13th film franchise…