Accused killer got help from friends, strangers on run

NAUGATUCK — Christopher Francisquini, accused of killing and mutilating his 11-month-old daughter, sought the help of old friends and strangers to avoid capture while on the run for two weeks after the homicide, an arrest warrant said.

Before police announced he was wanted in his daughter’s killing, a stranger gave Francisquini a ride to a gas station in the hours after the homicide on Nov. 18, according to the 36-page warrant.

Francisquini used the man’s cellphone to try to reach three people — a woman and two men he called his “brothers,” the man told police, the warrant said. Francisquini was unsuccessful in reaching anyone through their social media accounts, the man said, according to the warrant.

When the man arrived home after leaving Francisquini at a Shell station on Foxon Boulevard and Quinnipiac Street in New Haven, he realized the man named “Chris” he had picked up was wanted for killing his daughter, the warrant stated.

Francisquini was taken into custody Friday after an intense two-week manhunt following the discovery of his daughter, Camilla, who was found mutilated in the Millville Avenue home he shared with family, including the child’s mother, Kristyl Nieves, according to the warrant.

He is being held on $6.3 million bond after his arraignment Monday on murder, risk of injury, failure to appear in court and domestic violence charges. On Tuesday, he was placed on suicide watch by a judge in Bridgeport.

During the arraignment in state Superior Court of Waterbury, Francisquini, 31, kept his head down, ignoring questions from a judge. Court staff said he had refused to be fingerprinted and would not talk with the bail commissioner’s office prior to the court proceedings.

The family was shocked that Francisquini had killed the child who he appeared to cherish, the child’s mother said during an interview with police, the warrant stated.

“Christopher would say that he wanted a better situation” for Camilla and he had never mentioned wanting to harm the child, the woman told police, according to the warrant.

“He treated her as if she was everything,” Nieves said during the interview, according to the warrant.

She knew Francisquini was frustrated because he was on special parole for a 2012 assault conviction and had pending court cases that forced him to be on electronic monitoring and house arrest.

They were fighting more frequently and he was talking about ending the relationship, Nieves told police, according to the warrant.

Francisquini admitted to her that he “heard voices” that kept telling him to kill his father, Ramon, who he lived with, and was wrestling with bipolar disorder, Nieves said, according to the warrant. She doubted he was taking his medication and told him he should seek help, “as those voices aren’t normal,” the warrant stated.

The last time she saw her daughter alive was the night before the homicide, Nieves said. She and Francisquini had left the child upstairs with Francisquini’s father and his wife while they slept in the basement.

Ramon Francisquini believed the child was still sleeping in a playpen in his room upstairs when he left to pick up Nieves from work around 10 a.m. Nov. 18, he told police.

When Nieves arrived home, Francisquini immediately tried to get her out of the house by saying they needed to buy food for Thanksgiving He refused to allow her time to change in their bedroom in the basement, the warrant stated.

He was standing in the way of the bedroom door, she recalled, and followed her up the stairs, the warrant stated.

Police believe at this point, Camilla was dead in the basement and Francisquini was trying to stall the discovery of her body, the warrant stated.

They got in his father’s Chevy Impala after he promised to have the car back by noon, Nieves said.

On the way, he told her he texted someone regarding “CMHA,” a mental health service provider, the warrant stated. When they arrived at the store, Nieves told police another man who she didn’t know was waiting in a car, the warrant stated.

When she arrived home, she went downstairs to the basement bedroom she shared with Francisquini and found their daughter bloody and dismembered, the warrant said.

While on the run, police said Francisquini found ways to cover his tracks. He showed up at the home of old friends who later called police when they realized he was a suspect in his daughter’s death, according to the warrant.

He hadn’t seen the friends in years, but asked them for a sweatshirt and left the sweatshirt he was wearing at their house, they told investigators, according to the warrant. He also tried to sell them his father’s Impala, the warrant stated. The old friends called police when they realized Francisquini was wanted in his daughter’s death.

A man driving by the same exit asked Francisquini if he needed help, the warrant said. The man wound up taking Francisquini to the gas station, the warrant stated. Fransquini was spotted the next day in New Haven, but the tip didn’t lead to his capture, the warrant stated.

The warrant does not indicate where police believe Francisquini was staying or his other whereabouts during the two weeks on the run.

Francisquini is now being held at Garner Correctional Institution, where inmates with serious mental health disorders are placed.