Dad kidnapped baby, wanted to 'make news'

A South Florida woman says a man who kidnapped her, his 1-month-old son, the baby's mother and another man wanted to "make the news." Marissa Murray of North Lauderdale told the Sun Sentinel ( http://sunsent.nl/LVX1in) that Janus Saintil forced her at gunpoint Thursday night to drive the group to Port St. Lucie. Murray said Saintil was angry about a text message he had received from the baby's mother, Claudia Harriott, who wanted to break up with him for good. Saintil said he had nothing to live for and was "going to make the news," said Murray. "I've seen him get mad, but not to this point. He lost his mind," she said, "The look in his eye was evil." Saintil, of Deerfield Beach, was being held at the Broward County jail on charges of murder and other counts. Jail records did not show Sunday whether Saintil had an attorney. When they reached a home in Port St. Lucie, Saintil dropped off the baby and emerged with three other men, whom he ordered Murray to follow to another house about five miles away, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. Once there, Saintil took the group's cellphones inside, the sheriff's office said. Then he allegedly ordered Murray to drive the group to a gas station, where he wanted the other man in the car, Andrew Pennent, to withdraw money from an ATM. Pennent refused, raising his voice and telling the gas station attendant to call the police. Saintil then ordered Murray and Harriott out of the car. Before Saintil abandoned the three adults at the gas station, he threatened to kill the baby - who was his son Josiah Saintil, Murray said. Authorities say Saintil returned to Broward County with his son. The baby's body was found in the trunk of the car Friday after Saintil parked next to a Coral Springs police officer. According to the sheriff's office, Saintil met an 18-year-old woman in Coral Springs. She told investigators that Saintil had arrived late Thursday with the baby. Saintil left but then returned early Friday without the baby, and the pair spent most of Friday driving around without the woman knowing that Josiah was dead in the trunk, according to a police report. The medical examiner has not released a cause of death.