Florida man accused of slashing wife's throat

Children find mother dead inside Daytona Beach home

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Two children found their mother dead with a slashed throat Tuesday morning in Daytona Beach, and police identified their father as the suspect in her death.

Johan Chiri, 44, was taken to Halifax Hospital under the Baker Act after he was found by Holly Hill police apparently trying to jump off a bridge, according to officials.

Chiri's wife, Milena, was discovered by her daughters -- ages 10 and 12 -- after they woke up, police said.

Late Tuesday, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office released the 911 call that the children made.

"She is laying on the bed, covered with blood, her eyes, she's not moving," the girl told dispatchers.

"I think from a human perspective it's tragic. It's disgusting. It's sick. And you feel for that family, I want to get a lot of prayers to go out to those kids," said Daytona Beach Deputy Police Chief Craig Capri.  "I don't know why someone would do that to another human being, let alone the mother of their kids."

Daytona Beach police said the couple had been arguing throughout the night and a neighbor called authorities after separating them.

"We were there yesterday around 9 p.m. We responded out there, talked to the victim and the suspect at that time. And the victim said there was nothing going on, said it was a verbal dispute between husband and wife, he didn't hit her, he didn't touch her, and everything was OK," said Capri.

Capri explained that his officers took a report and left because there was no evidence of domestic violence and therefore no probable cause to arrest Chiri.

"I found out later a neighbor went over around midnight and heard noises coming from the apartment, a disturbance, a fight," said Capri. "They went out, got the suspect, told him 'hey come on with us, come out of the house.' Come to find out they do this all the time, I'm like, 'Why didn't you call the police?' They never notified us at that point in time. At that point if time if they'd notified us we might have been able to do something."

About two hours later, Johan Chiri was located by Holly Hill police after claiming he'd just jumped off the Seabreeze bridge.

Police said the couple had a history of domestic disputes and had been called to the house 14 times in the past year, even arrested Chiri before for battery. Capri said Chiri had been Baker Acted five times in the past year.

"Johan had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, he didn't like to take his medicine but when he was on his medicine he was a very good guy," said neighbor Patti Mash. "When he didn't take his medicine he was delusional."

Mash said Milena would not leave Johan because she was committed to him.

"Because they were Muslims, she wouldn't leave him," said Mash. "Because of their religion. She wouldn't leave him. She married him for better or for worse and she was going to stick with him, because she knew what was wrong, as long as he was taking his medicine he wasn't violent."

Mash said Milena was a hardworking maid who took the bus every day to a local hotel, working to support her daughters.

"Milena was very caring, she was very generous, she would give up her time and resources for her neighbors," said Mash. "She loved her girls, she was very proud of them. Very dedicated mom. Very nice woman. This is so awful."

Police said the children are in the custody of their grandparents who have helped raised them. They were not physically harmed.


About the Author:

Erik von Ancken anchors and reports for News 6 and is a two-time Emmy award-winning journalist in the prestigious and coveted "On-Camera Talent" categories for both anchoring and reporting.

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