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I Just Killed My Wife, Miami Man's Facebook Page Says

"I'm going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife. Love you guys. Miss you guys. Take care. Facebook people you'll see me in the news."

The Miami Herald and other news outlets are reporting that 31-year-old Derek Medina of South Miami apparently posted that Facebook message Thursday morning, along with a photo of a woman's "twisted, bloodied body lying on a linoleum floor."

Soon after the posts appeared, the Herald adds, "Medina walked into the South Miami police station ... then spent the evening speaking with homicide detectives about what led up to the shooting death of his wife, Jennifer Alfonso, 26."

He's been charged with first-degree murder.

The Associated Press writes that according to a court affidavit:

"The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Medina said the couple became involved in a heated argument in an upstairs bedroom when he armed himself with a gun and pointed it at her. He said Alfonso left the bedroom, returning later to say she was leaving him. He says he went downstairs and confronted her in the kitchen, when she began punching him. He claims he went back upstairs to get his gun and confronted her again, at which time she grabbed a knife. Medina said he was able to disarm her and put the knife in a drawer, but that when she began punching him again, he shot her several times, the affidavit says."

The wire service adds that the "gruesome photograph" remained on Facebook fore more than five hours until the social media network removed it late Thursday afternoon:

"A Facebook spokeswoman said in an email to The Associated Press that she couldn't comment on a law enforcement investigation but could provide a general comment from the company.

" 'The content was reported to us,' the spokeswoman wrote. 'We took action on the profile — removing the content and disabling the profile, and we reached out to law enforcement. We take action on all content that violates our terms, which are clearly laid out on our site.' "

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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