Naugatuck man accused of killing baby again refuses to acknowledge judge, staff

MILFORD — Christopher Francisquini, the Naugatuck father accused of killing his 11-month-old daughter, again refused to acknowledge a judge or court staff during his third straight day of arraignments on Wednesday.

Francisquini, 31, attended a remote session in state Superior Court in Milford for failing to appear while he was on the run for a hearing on charges related to a 2021 carjacking and attempted escape in West Haven, judicial records show.

But Francisquini held up the proceedings for 15 minutes after Judge Peter Brown wasn’t sure if he could hear his questions or was refusing to acknowledge him.

“It’s not clear to me whether Mr. Francisquini can hear me or not,” Brown said.

Francisquini, who was dressed in a green prisonissued jumpsuit and face mask, sat without moving other than occasionally blinking.

Court staff had to call prison officials to ask a correction officer to go into the room to determine if Francisquini could hear the proceedings. Francisquini could hear the judge, correction officials determined, but was refusing to acknowledge Brown just as he did not acknowledge the Waterbury judge who oversaw his arraignment Monday on charges related to the death of his daughter.

During a similar failure to appear hearing Tuesday in Bridgeport, a judge ordered him placed on suicide watch.

Francisquini was on special parole following a 2012 assault conviction and was out on bond while facing pending 2021 court cases in Bridgeport and Milford when police said he killed his daughter, Camilla, in their Naugatuck home on Nov. 18. After the killing, Francisquini removed his court-ordered electronic monitoring device and destroyed his cellphone before going on the run for two weeks, court documents said.

During the two-week intensive manhunt that ensued, Francisquini missed scheduled court dates in Bridgeport and Milford, leading him to rack up failure-to-appear charges on the pending cases in addition to murder and domestic violence charges.

Francisquini appeared Wednesday in Milford court by video from Garner Correctional Institution where he was being held on $6.3 million bond. Brown increased his bond on the Milford cases by $550,000, bringing his total bond in all of his pending cases to nearly $7 million.

Francisquini also declined to speak with bail officials, as he did during Monday’s proceedings. He is due back in court for the Milford charges on Jan. 30.

The child’s mother Kristyl Nieves told police Francisquini was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and he “heard voices,” but likely wasn’t taking his medication, according to his arrest warrant. Four days before the homicide, Francisquini received a favorable report from probation officers who oversee pretrial defendants released on bond and was allowed to be removed from court-ordered house arrest on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

He was taken into custody Friday at a bus stop in Waterbury and charged with murder under special circumstances and risk of injury to a child.

The pending cases in Bridgeport and Milford relate to a two-day span in November 2021 when he violated the terms of his release from prison by committing a carjacking in West Haven and assaulting correction officers while trying to escape from a detention facility the next day, court documents show.