Francisquini's arrest ‘best birthday gift' for slain Naugatuck infant, mom says

NAUGATUCK — An emotional vigil was held on the town Green Saturday to honor the life of slain infant Camilla Francisquini, whose father was apprehended Friday and charged in her killing.

Dozens of people, many wearing pink to support the child, gathered around the gazebo on the Naugatuck Green on what would have been Camilla’s first birthday.

“I really want to thank everybody for coming and honoring my daughter,” Camilla’s mother, Kristyl Nieves told them. “I really appreciate everything that everybody has done because honestly I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

At the gazebo’s entrance were two easels holding posters of a smiling, cheerful Camilla, reading: “Happy 1st Birthday Baby Camilla.”

“I just want to keep my baby’s smile and laughter because that’s all she did,” Nieves said. “She hardly cried. She mainly laughed.”

Nieves wore a white sweatshirt bearing her daughter’s name on the back. On the front were characters from “Cocomelon” — one of her daughter’s favorite shows, along with “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” she said.

A grieving Nieves buried her head in her sweatshirt, sobbing as she was consoled during a recorded rendition of “Amazing Grace.” Several of Camilla’s family members wore Tshirts showing the child with angel wings spread behind her.

“Every day you see your daughter, and one day it just stops,” Nieves said. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it. But hopefully, one day things will get better.”

“I just want to keep that smile and that laughter alive,” she added.

Before the vigil, some Naugatuck residents said they attended Saturday’s gathering to support Camilla’s family as they grieved her death.

“Such a tragedy, knowing that I have my own kids — I can’t imagine what that poor baby’s mother is going through,” said Amanda Cyr, who attended the vigil with her husband and two young children, all clad in pink. “Naugatuck is a great town, a great community.”

Eric Melendez, another resident, said he was also there to pay his respects.

“It was a little girl that was taken away way too soon,” Melendez said. “And for her father to do something like that, it’s unbelievable. ”Some Naugatuck residents said the town had been “on edge” as Christopher Francisquini evaded capture for the past two weeks, uncertain where he might have been hiding.

On Friday afternoon, police arrested Christopher Francisquini at a bus stop in Waterbury. He will be arraigned Monday on charges of murder with special circumstances and risk of injury to a minor.

Francisquini spent 10 years in prison for a 2012 assault and had been released on bond after being charged with carjacking and assaulting officers during an attempted escape from a detention facility in 2021.

Authorities had said Francisquini complied with the conditions of his release before his daughter’s death on Nov. 18. Police said after strangling and stabbing his daughter, Francisquini removed his court-ordered electronic monitoring device and was on the run for two weeks before a tip from a witness led to his arrest on Friday.

“Without y’all, there wouldn’t have been any justice and that’s the best birthday gift I could give my daughter,” Camilla’s mother said.

After family members released white balloons into the air, a version of “Happy Birthday” was played to further honor Camilla.

With family and community members surrounding her, Nieves stood nursing the last remaining balloon, silence gripping the air. She closed her teary eyes, bowed her head to kiss it, and sent it floating into the night.