Florida mother shoots teen dead for molesting her 6-year-old daughter after spending months planning the murder
NAPLES, FLORIDA: A Florida mother is facing trial after she was accused of killing an 18-year-old boy who allegedly molested her daughter when she was just six-years-old.
Connie Serbu, 43, first appeared on the authorities' radar on July 7, 2016, when Naples Police officers responded to an undeveloped area around the 700 Block of Goodlette Road North on reports that there had been gunshots, according to Naples Daily News.
On arrival, officers discovered two deceased adult males with gunshot wounds near the Gordon river who were later identified as Xavier Sierra, 18, and John Vargas, 29, Serbu's developmentally disabled brother.
Investigators initially believed that their deaths might have been the result of an argument, though that view changed a year later.
On August 25, 2017, Naples Police announced that Serbu was responsible for the deaths and announced they would be charging her with murder.
It emerged that she had been plotting to kill Sierra after her daughter told her on May 30, 2016, that the teen, a family friend, had molested her five years ago.
A criminal complaint filed in the case states that, after hearing about the allegation, Serbu became angry and hatched a plan to kill Sierra.
It also states that she told her husband he should prepare to take care of their kids by himself because "she was going to do something."
She put her plan into motion on June 1 that year when she visited the teen and asked him for help to assemble bunk-beds at her house.
On June 8, Vargas arrived at her home, and the pair subsequently went to a Family Dollar store and purchased a flip-phone and a Verizon rechargeable card for the phone. The phone was used to exclusively communicate with Sierra.
Phone records show the 43-year-old contacted the teen with the phone on July 7, the day of his murder, and also messaged him on Facebook promising him "easy money."
After sending the message, she and Vargas left her home with dark, tight clothes, with their heads covered, and their shoe soles covered in duct tape while carrying two handguns, two stun guns, an ice pick, and a potato to silence the gun.
They met Sierra at around 3 pm near his house, where they confronted him about the molestation, before then driving him to the remote wooded location where he was killed. When they reached the spot, Sierra ran, and the pair gave him chase. A struggle ensued, during which both Vargas and he were fatally shot.
Serbu faces one count of second-degree murder in connection to the teen's death. Her trial began this past Thursday, October 10, with jury selection and is expected to continue through next Friday, October 18.