Man kissed daughter, apologized — then killed her, complaint says
After stabbing his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend and a family friend, Ruben Garcia kissed his baby daughter, apologized and then slit her throat, prosecutors say.
A criminal complaint against Garcia details a domestic violence rampage in which prosecutors say he flew into a rage when his former girlfriend did not take him back and fatally stabbed two people, including his daughter.
Garcia was charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of 5-month-old Kairii Dailey and 39-year-old Paul M. Kucharczyk.
He also faces two counts of attempted homicide in the stabbing of 19-year-old Alexia Dailey — Kairii's mother and Garcia's ex-girlfriend — and Christopher Hamilton, 22, who was Dailey's current boyfriend.
Dailey called police about 8:30 a.m. Friday during the attack at a home in the 400 block of N. 39th St., police said. When officers arrived, they found Kairii dead in her crib and three other stabbing victims.
According to a criminal complaint:
Dailey told police she and Garcia broke up earlier this month because he was physically abusive, but Garcia was allowed to see their daughter, Kairii, who was born in August.
Thursday night and into Friday morning, Garcia called and texted her several times, upset over an online video of the woman's new boyfriend, Hamilton, playing with Kairii. He asked to see his daughter and came to the house Friday morning and asked Dailey to take him back.
Dailey refused and asked him to leave. Instead, Garcia lunged at her with a knife and stabbed her multiple times. Hamilton heard the commotion coming from the kitchen and tried to stop Garcia, who then began stabbing him. Hamilton told police he heard Garcia say, "You ruined my life."
The two struggled and Hamilton grabbed a knife to defend himself, but Garcia stabbed him several more times so he pretended to be dead to stop the attack. Hamilton told police his vision blurred and he thought he would die.
Kucharczyk, a family friend, also came to help and tried to stop Garcia, who stabbed him several times in the neck, killing him.
Frantic call to police
During the commotion, Dailey was able to run out of the kitchen, lock herself in a bathroom and call police.
Garcia began yelling he was going to kill Kairii, the complaint says. Dailey pleaded with him not to and offered to get back together with him.
Garcia kicked in the bathroom door, stood over her and again stabbed her in the neck. She remembered him saying, "I lost you forever! If I can't have you, no one will! They are all dead!" She feared she would die.
Garcia tried to get her to stab him, but she refused, saying she didn't want to kill anyone.
When police arrived, they found the baby girl dead in her crib from stab wounds.
Planned to flee
Police say Garcia's version of events matched closely what the surviving victims told them. Garcia claimed he planned to flee the country with the baby after killing everyone else. When his ex-girlfriend refused to come out of the bathroom, he said he became further enraged, went to his daughter's crib and stabbed her.
Dailey told police she and Garcia met in 2010 and moved in together about two years ago. She said he was physically abusive during their relationship and she ended it earlier this month.
Online fundraising pages have been established to help pay for Kairii's funeral and her mother's medical bills, as well as for Hamilton's recovery and Kucharczyk's funeral expenses, and can be found on gofundme.com.
The Sojourner Family Peace Center in Milwaukee operates a 24-hour hotline at (414) 933-2722. The Milwaukee Women's Center offers a 24-hour crisis line at (414) 671-6140.
The National Domestic Abuse hotline is (800) 799-7233 and the National Child Abuse Hotline is (800) 422-4453.