A Florida killing that began as a quiet night in a Hialeah apartment has ended with a 15-year-old facing decades in prison and a family shattered. Investigators say Derek Rosa was just 13 when he stabbed his sleeping mother 46 times, then posed for a bloody selfie he allegedly sent to friends before calling 911. The case has moved from shocking crime scene to courtroom reckoning, forcing hard questions about youth violence, online culture, and what justice looks like when the killer is a child.
Now that Rosa has admitted to second-degree murder and heard his sentence, the public record offers a disturbing, granular picture of what happened in that bedroom, what prosecutors say motivated him, and how the legal system ultimately responded. I want to walk through those details carefully, not to sensationalize the horror, but to understand how a seemingly ordinary teenager ended up at the center of one of Florida’s most chilling family murders in recent memory.
The Night a Mother Was Ambushed in Her Sleep
According to investigators, the violence unfolded inside a modest Hialeah apartment while the victim’s younger child slept nearby, unaware of the attack. Prosecutors say Derek Rosa waited until his mother was asleep, then used a knife to stab her 46 times, targeting her neck and upper body in what they describe as a sustained ambush rather than a sudden outburst. Reporting on the case notes that Rosa was only 13 at the time, yet the sheer number of wounds and the focus on her throat led authorities to characterize the killing as especially brutal and deliberate, not a momentary loss of control.
In charging documents, officials alleged that the boy’s actions did not stop with the stabbing. After the attack, he is accused of taking photos of his mother’s body and a bloody selfie, then sending those images to at least one friend before he called for help. One national report describes how the Teen, identified as a 13-year-old Florida boy, was accused of fatally stabbing his sleeping mother 46 times and then sending photos of her corpse and his own blood-covered face to a friend. Another account, summarizing what prosecutors later laid out in court, says the defendant stabbed his mother multiple times while she slept, a detail that would become central to how the state framed the crime as a calculated attack rather than a spontaneous fight.
The Disturbing Selfie and Messages to Friends
If the killing itself was horrifying, the digital trail that followed has become one of the case’s most haunting elements. New filings described by prosecutors say that after the stabbing, the 13-year-old took a close-up selfie showing his face and clothing smeared with blood, then sent that image, along with photos of his mother’s body, to at least one friend via messaging apps. In one summary of those filings, officials in MIAMI describe how the teen killer allegedly sent photos of his murdered mom and a bloody selfie to friends, with those images now expected to be used as evidence if any aspect of the case is contested in future proceedings.
Another account of the same evidence notes that New court documents detail how the teen allegedly shared the photos shortly after the killing, before law enforcement arrived. Separate reporting on the broader case describes the crime in the context of topics like Selfie culture and the way some young people process reality through their phone cameras even in moments of extreme crisis. For investigators and, later, jurors and a judge, those images were not just grotesque, they were a window into the teen’s mindset in the minutes after the killing.
A Teen Fascinated With Jason Voorhees and Horror Violence
As detectives dug into Rosa’s background, they found what prosecutors later described as a morbid fascination with slasher-movie violence. In a detailed court filing, they argued that the Hialeah teenager had become fixated on Jason Voorhees, the masked killer from the Friday the the 13th franchise, and that this obsession helped shape his thinking before the attack. One local report on the filing says The Hialeah teenager accused of brutally stabbing his mother to death in 2023 was possibly driven by a fascination with violence and a desire to emulate Jason Voorhees.
In a separate video presentation of the state’s theory, Prosecutors go on to write that the evidence demonstrates the defendant was motivated at least in part by a morbid fascination with violence and death, pointing to his online searches and interest in horror characters. Another national summary of the case lists “Jason Voorhees” and “Murder” among the key topics tied to the teen’s alleged mindset. I cannot say, based on the record, that the movies caused the crime, but the state clearly saw his horror fixation as part of the story of how fantasy bled into real-world violence.
From 13-Year-Old Suspect to 15-Year-Old Defendant
Once Rosa was arrested, the case moved quickly into the adult system, even though he was barely a teenager. One local account notes that Derek Rosa, who was 13 at the time of the killing, was charged as an adult in the 2023 stabbing death of his mother. Another report, previewing a key hearing, describes how MIAMI authorities prepared for the teen’s appearance in a Miami-Dade courtroom, underscoring how unusual it is to see someone so young facing adult homicide charges.
By the time the case reached its pivotal moment, Rosa was 15 and had spent years in custody awaiting trial. One detailed summary of the plea hearing notes that Hialeah teen Derek Rosa, 15, appeared in court with a Spanish translator as he prepared to change his plea. Another national recap frames the case under a “NEED TO KNOW” banner, stating that NEED and KNOW include the fact that he was 13 at the time of the killing but 15 when he stood before a judge to admit what he had done.
The Legal Battle Over His Confession
Before Rosa changed his plea, his defense team fought a crucial battle over whether his statements to police could be used at trial. They argued that the combination of his age and the trauma of the situation made his confession unreliable and potentially involuntary. One detailed report on the pretrial hearings explains that Defense attorneys contended that the traumatic nature of the incident, combined with Rosa’s age, meant his statements should be viewed with skepticism.
In that same account, the report notes that Rosa sat in court as One detective testified about the circumstances of his interview, with the judge set to decide whether the confession would be admissible. Another summary of the broader case notes that earlier coverage focused on how the teen had confessed and even listened to his own statements during later proceedings, a detail highlighted in a video clip that mentions 334 reactions to the footage. The legal fight over his words underscored a larger tension in juvenile justice: how to balance the need for accountability with recognition that a 13-year-old may not fully grasp the stakes of talking to police.
The Shocking Plea Change and Courtroom Apology
As the trial date approached, Rosa’s case appeared headed for a high-profile showdown over first-degree murder charges. Then, in a surprise move, he agreed to plead guilty to a lesser count of second-degree murder. A video of the hearing captures the judge addressing him directly, saying Now you were indicted by a grand jury for first-degree murder, before explaining that the state and his lawyers had worked out a plea arrangement and asking if he understood. Rosa responded quietly, “Yes, your honor,” and confirmed that he wanted to proceed.
Another detailed account of the hearing notes that Marissa Bagg, Christian, Briana Trujillo and others, the coverage emphasized how unusual it was to see a 15-year-old calmly tell a judge he wanted to plead guilty to killing his mother. In a separate local report, Chris Gothner, identified as a Digital Journalist, recounts how Rosa told the court “I’m sorry” as he entered his plea, speaking through a translator and addressing the judge and his remaining family members. That apology, brief and formal, was the first time many relatives had heard him acknowledge the crime in open court.
The Sentence: 25 Years for Second-Degree Murder
With the plea in place, the judge turned to punishment, weighing Rosa’s youth against the brutality of the killing. Under the agreement, he admitted to second-degree murder rather than facing trial on a first-degree charge that could have meant life in prison. One detailed recap of the outcome explains that Derek Rosa, 15, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Friday and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, followed by a lengthy period of supervision. Another national account of the same hearing notes that the Florida teen who stabbed his mother to death when he was 13 was jailed after abruptly admitting the murder and saying “I’m sorry” in court.
Local coverage of the sentencing hearing adds further detail, describing how Rosa pleaded guilty to second-degree murder days before he was set to head to trial in what prosecutors called a brutal ambush of his mother. Another summary of the same proceeding notes that he Fla. teen pleaded guilty to brutally stabbing his mother to death while she was sleeping, with the judge ultimately accepting the negotiated sentence. For a boy who was 13 at the time of the crime, 25 years is effectively most of his early adulthood, a punishment that reflects both the system’s harshest view of juvenile homicide and its reluctance to impose life without any chance of release.
Family Grief and a Father Left to Pick Up the Pieces
While the legal arguments focused on charges and sentencing ranges, the victim’s family used the courtroom to describe the human cost of the killing. In a powerful statement, the victim’s husband, identified as Ramos, wrote that Her death destroyed our family and changed our lives forever. Another passage from the same letter, read aloud in court, explained that After the tragedy, Ramos said he was left alone to take care of Ros and the couple’s surviving child, a responsibility he described as both a blessing and a daily reminder of what had been lost.
In a separate account of the sentencing, another relative addressed Rosa directly, saying that for me, you were like a son, before describing the victim as a loving mother, dedicated, and an excellent person. That statement, delivered by Ramos and directed at Rosa, underscored the layered grief of a family that has lost a mother to murder and a son to prison. Another local report on the case notes that Derek Rosa stood silently as these statements were read, occasionally wiping his eyes but saying little beyond his brief apology.
Supporters, Skeptics, and a Community Divided
Even as prosecutors laid out a portrait of a teen enthralled by slasher violence, some people close to Rosa insisted that the boy they knew could not have committed such a crime without deeper, unseen problems. A social media post previewing one of his court appearances notes that Fifteen-year-old Derek Rosa was set to appear in a Miami-Dade courtroom on Friday morning, and that there were people who believe he is innocent. That same post identifies Dade County as the jurisdiction and notes that the hearing was scheduled for Friday, underscoring how closely the local community was watching.
Other coverage highlights how some observers saw Rosa as both perpetrator and victim, a child who committed an unforgivable act but did so at an age when his brain and judgment were still developing. One national recap of the sentencing notes that the Derek Ros case has reignited debate over how Florida treats juveniles charged with serious crimes, especially when they are transferred to adult court. Another local report, written Published January and later Updated, notes that Rosa appeared to understand that he was deciding much of his own future as he entered his plea. Those conflicting perceptions, of a cold-blooded killer and a broken child, continue to shape how neighbors and readers interpret every new detail that emerges.\
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