José Rosa attended every court hearing since the proceedings against his son began. Over two years, he watched Derek go from 13 to 15 years old amid a case that shook South Florida, ultimately resulting in a guilty plea and a 25-year prison sentence, along with 20 years of probation.
The teenager's father couldn't hold back his tears when this week the journalist from Telemundo 51, Gloria Ordaz, asked him what he would say when he is able to visit him in prison.
“As a parent, one never thinks they will lose a child so young for such a long time. You want to give them everything, you want to teach them, you want to hold them... and now it has become complicated,” he said, visibly shaken.
When imagining the moment of their reunion, she added: “When the day comes, I will hug him, I will kiss him, I will hold his hands.”
The case dates back to October 2023, when Derek, then 13 years old, called 911 and confessed to stabbing his mother, Irina García, with a kitchen knife in the family's apartment in Hialeah.
Two years later, just before the trial began, he reached a plea deal with the prosecution.
Currently serving a sentence at the Suwannee Correctional Institution, a state prison in Florida.
"I can't understand how something like this happened."
Beyond the verdict, José Rosa still faces a lack of understanding.
“I really don’t know all the details or how something like this could happen. There’s really no explanation; I can’t understand how something like this could occur. Whether guilty or innocent, something strange happened…”, he stated.
He insists that he never saw any signs that foreshadowed a tragedy.
"I can't understand how something like this happened", he emphasized.
Regarding the guilty plea, he assures that he respects the decision made by his son.
When asked if Derek loved his mother, he responded without hesitation: “Yes, definitely.”
According to his version, he never witnessed any serious conflicts between the two.
"I never saw him. He complained about things like his mother not wanting him to wear certain types of clothes or shoes, and how uncomfortable that was. He wanted one brand and not another, but nothing about discipline," he noted.
During the judicial process, it was revealed that Derek had been diagnosed with autism and attention deficit disorder. The family describes the relationship between mother and son as "normal," with rules and discipline, but without indications—according to them—that a tragedy of such magnitude could occur.
"He has developed quite well, considering the circumstances he was in," his father commented on his son's progress over the past two years.
"They are two different loves."
In the midst of public turmoil, the adolescent's maternal grandmother, Isabel Acosta, made her first statements following her grandson's admission of guilt.
“They are two different loves,” he said in statements to the mentioned media outlet.
“I love her... and I raised him, they are different kinds of love,” she added.
The woman summarized the intimate conflict she is experiencing this way: the pain for her murdered daughter and the unconditional support for her convicted grandson.
"I will support him until the last day of my life," he says.
He assures that he hasn't asked why the crime occurred and that, for now, he does not wish to do so.
When asked if he believes justice was served, he avoids giving a definitive answer. He neither affirms nor denies his grandson's innocence.
Isabel also speaks about another absence: the granddaughter she has not been able to see anymore. That distance adds another layer of pain to a family already fractured by tragedy.
As Derek begins his life in the prison system, his grandmother and father face their own process: reconciling love, loss, and a truth that they believe is still incomplete.
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