ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Jurors heard audio Thursday of accused triple-murderer Luis Toledo describing what happened to his wife and her two children that night in 2013 that they disappeared from their Deltona home.
Toledo, 35, is accused of killing 28-year-old Yessenia Suarez and her two children, Thalia Otto, 9, and Michael Otto, 8, in Volusia County on Oct. 23, of 2013. Their bodies were never found.
On Thursday, prosecutors played video of recorded statements made by Toledo to detectives after the family’s disappearance.
"I got so tired of her grabbing at me. She fell down on the floor. Looking at me," Toledo told detectives. "She couldn't breathe. She's not breathing. She's not breathing. She died looking at me."
Toledo told detectives his neighbor killed Thalia and Michael Otto with an ax, but investigators were not able to prove that account.
Prosecutors said Toledo changed his story after being confronted by detectives with evidence of blood at the family home and Suarez's car. On Tuesday, the jury heard from a DNA expert who said Thalia Otto’s DNA was found in blood in her mother’s closet and on a car trunk mat which Toledo disposed of.
During the first interview, hours earlier, Toledo said he slept in his car and when he woke up his wife and her children were gone.
"Nobody was there," he said. "I said, 'Damn, she didn't even wake me up."
The family was reported missing from their Deltona home on Oct. 23, 2013.
The judge decided to give the jury a break Friday. Trial will resume Monday when the defense brings in a special witness from out of state.
Jurors are expected to hear more recordings between Toledo and investigators, as well as two forensic specialist.
Follow live updates below from News 6 reporter Loren Korn.
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