A child in Missouri recently called 911 for help and could do little more than listen as his father brutally beat his mother to death with a hammer, authorities have confirmed.
The son of Suzette Flores, 47, and Felipe Ayala, III, 34, called police just before 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7, and spoke to dispatchers as the alleged bludgeoning unfolded.
“I need somebody, my dad is hitting my mother — I need a police officer,” the child allegedly told the 911 dispatcher, explaining what was happening as it was happening, as best he could. “I do not know what he is doing to my momma. I hear banging, she is not yelling or nothing anymore. It is just quiet. I do not hear her anymore. I do not know what he did to her.”
The boy, police said, began to cry, and told the 911 dispatcher he was “very scared.”
When he called, dispatchers asked the boy for his location inside the home. He told them he was just outside the Springfield home’s garage, where the beating was happening.
“They have been doing this forever and I am tired of it,” the child allegedly said over the phone. “I think my dad is coming. Are they on the way, ma’am? I am very scared, ma’am.”
According to a probable cause affidavit viewed by Luxury Handbag Shopping, the fatal beating lasted between 15 to 20 minutes. A neighbor told police he saw Ayala begin the attack as the garage door started to close. Asked to re-enact the motion Ayala was making, the neighbor started “making a downward motion from above his shoulder … consistent with a hammering motion.”
Police have charged Ayala with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He is being held without bond and has not been asked to plead to the charges yet.
A GoFundMe campaign has been started for Flores’ children, which claims she “wanted nothing but a good life for her and her boys. Her life was taken suddenly and viciously. She was robbed of the chance to watch her babies and grand babies grow, and they were robbed of a life with their mother and grandmother.”
The child allegedly told police Ayala had been wielding a knife before the fatal attack and said he had mentioned “people were out to get him,” the affidavit says. Ayala and Flores began fighting and arguing in the garage and the child told police he saw Ayala choking Flores and hitting her in the head.
“You made me do this,” Ayala allegedly told her, the child said to police, the affidavit alleged. “Ayala looked at him and the other juveniles in the home saying they were next,” the affidavit added.
Three children were home at the time of the alleged murder.
Detectives continue to investigate the case and ask that anyone who has relevant information contact the Springfield Police Department at (417) 864-1810 or make an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers at (417) 869-TIPS (8477) or online at p3tips.com.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
