OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — WFTV obtained more information Wednesday about a man who was arrested for the murder of a boy that happened nine years ago. Luis Rosario was a suspect in the death of 4-year-old Andres Sanchez in 2001, but he was arrested just a few days ago after new evidence revealed that the child was suffocated.
Osceola County Sheriff's detectives arrested Luis Gerardo Rosario who was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Andres Sanchez, which occurred on April 16, 2001 when Andres was four years old.
At the time of Andres' death, Rosario and the child's mother were living together.
On April 16, 2001, deputies responded to Hali Ridge Court in reference to an unresponsive child. When deputies arrived, Rosario told them that earlier in the day he had taken Andres to swim at a friend's house in Winter Springs. He said Andres had swallowed some water and had vomited, but seemed fine. Rosario told officers when they returned home, Andres fell out of the car and struck his face on the pavement.
Rosario told deputies Andres had gone to bed shortly after arriving home, then when he checked on the child around 1:55am he found him unresponsive. The boy's mother called 911.
Andres died shortly after being transported to Celebration Hospital. About ten months later, Andres' death was ruled a homicide and the medical examiner confirmed the cause of death was suffocation.
Rosario was a suspect because he was the only person with the child when the incident happened, but there was not enough evidence to charge him.
Since 2001, Rosario has been arrested for numerous drug and violent felony offenses.
Detectives reopened the investigation in August of 2008. In October, detectives interviewed witnesses living near the child's residence when the incident occurred, and they also spoke with Andres' mother who provided leads for the detectives.
Detectives learned Rosario was housed at a state mental hospital and was ruled incompetent to stand trial for previous charges from an Orange County case. However, Rosario's doctors have recently ruled him competent to stand trial, including the new first-degree murder charge and the previous charges.
Investigators obtained new evidence in the child's murder case, but will not reveal what it is. That new evidence was presented to a grand jury.
On July 15, Osceola County Sheriff's detectives contacted Rosario, who refused to cooperate with the investigation, and was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. He was booked into the Osceola County jail.
The home where Andres Sanchez was murdered has a new family, but the neighborhood is still not back to normal.
"It's tragic, tragic especially a little boy," a neighbor said.
Even those, who moved to the neighborhood after the boy died, are shocked his murder went unprosecuted for nearly a decade.
"Especially if you lived next door, and you can imagine that little kid playing in the yard, and playing outside," she said.
When he died, Andres' mother didn't' have money for a grave site and burial, so investigators put their money together for a grave marker to honor him.
WFTV
