Mother in Deadly Deerfield RV Park Standoff Pleads Not Guilty

Deanna De Jesus facing aggravated manslaughter in stabbings at RV park

The Florida woman charged with aggravated manslaughter and child neglect after her husband stabbed his entire family in a deadly Deerfield Beach RV park standoff was in court in Broward Monday, where a judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.

Deanna De Jesus, 40, remains behind bars on $350,000 bond in the Feb. 9 incident at the Highland Woods RV Park.

According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, 41-year-old William De Jesus, from Port Orange, drove his red Ford Mustang into the RV park with Deanna De Jesus and the couple's two sons, ages seven and nine.

William De Jesus, who was an Oxycodone addict and who was found to have cocaine in his body, shot and killed 76-year-old Oliva Plante, then took Plante's girlfriend, Pierrette Beauchemin, hostage in the couple's RV, police said.

In the RV, William De Jesus stabbed his 9-year-old and 7-year-old sons several times. Deanna De Jesus didn't stop the stabbing of her children, and "protested only when her husband stabbed her," authorities said.

When Deanna De Jesus realized her husband was dead and that one of her sons was alive, she didn't go or call for help, authorities said.

After five hours, a SWAT team entered the RV and found William De Jesus and one son dead. The other son and Deanna De Jesus were critically wounded, but both survived.

Both William De Jesus and and the son he killed had cocaine in their systems when they died, authorities said.

Deanna De Jesus also told a witness that she knew her husband sometimes gave their sons drugs, authorities said.  Officials said William De Jesus probably drove to South Florida to buy drugs.

According to the Department of Children and Families, the boys had been allowed to return to William De Jesus and his wife despite a troubled history, and one of the boys called his father "Jackson Monster."

In February 2008, she told authorities that they both had been molesting their two sons, newly released DCF documents show.

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