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Local News

Arrest Made in Arlington Pool Drowning

By
Jared Halpern, Reporter
@ July 12, 2009 4:42 PM
Permalink | Comments (1)
An 18-year-old man, found naked in an Arlington pool last week where a teenaged mother and toddler girl died, has been charged with two counts of murder. Andrew Michael Gomez was arrested by homicide detectives yesterday after being interviewed by police Saturday.

"He was in the pool with the two bodies when the grandmother found the grandchild and her daughter the 18-year-old," Lt. Larry Schmitt told reporters Sunday, stopping short of laying out any specific evidence. "I'm not going to get into all of the details of the investigation. But we were able to gather enough evidence to find probable cause to believe he murdered both of them."

Tiffany Cecconi was found at the bottom of the pool at the Coves neighborhood in Arlington last Wednesday. Her 18-month-old daughter Kaylani was floating in the water of the pool. Kaylani was pronounced dead a short time later at the hospital. Cecconi was dead at the scene.

In an arrest report obtained by WOKV, officers indicate Gomez was interviewed at Shands Saturday. The report says Gomez accompanied Cecconi and her daughter to the pool Wednesday afternoon and was "holding Kaylani near his chest. [Gomez] stated he started moving the baby around in his arms causing the baby to tell him to stop."

The report then says Cecconi tried to get the baby out of Gomez's arms and "the suspect stated that he and Tiffany began fighting in the pool."

"The suspect said that during the fight he dropped the baby in the pool. He continued fighting Tiffany with both hands," the report says.

The report says Gomez was specifically asked if he killed Tiffany "and he said he did. He did not remember holding her under the water."

Autopsies were performed on both victims Thursday that indicates the mother and daughter died from drowning.

Gomez, a long-time friend of Cecconi's, was naked, standing in the pool when rescuers arrived.

"Two members of Jacksonville/Fire Rescue had to enter the pool and removed this suspect from the pool. It appeared this suspect ingested a large amount of pool water," a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office police report said.

Gomez was booked absentee Saturday and at last check was stable at Shands-Jacksonville, according to Schmitt.



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What others are saying

  • tiffany and kaylani
    gomez is a sorry dog i think someone should drowned him
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