ORLANDO, Fla. – Deputies in Orange County have arrested a man in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found Thursday during a well-being check.
A booking document shows Pierre Floriant, 41, faces charges of first-degree murder and killing of an unborn child by injury to the mother.
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Deputies found a woman in her 20s dead on Thursday morning at the Pointe Vista Apartments off Americana Boulevard east of Texas Avenue. The woman has since been identified as Joanna Ragine Gomez-Simo.
Deputies said she was in a romantic relationship with Floriant and had a 6-month-old child with him. Deputies believed she was 20 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
Deputies were conducting a well-being check at the request of a family member of Gomez-Simo. The family member told deputies that Floriant was giving conflicting stories about Gomez-Simo’s whereabouts to different family members.
The state attorney’s office also put out a release that says Gomez-Sino told the office that she’d moved out of state, she was not afraid of him crossing state lines to contact her and that she wished to drop charges.
“We know that the best way to support victims and survivors of domestic violence is to hold their abusers accountable, and we understand that doing so includes considering lethality factors and public safety concerns, as well as identifying repeat offenders to ensure that the appropriate penalties are imposed,” the release states.
In Floriant’s arrest affidavit, deputies said there was a documented history of domestic violence, including an incident on Dec. 2 where he was arrested and accused of aggravated battery on a pregnant person.
According to the arrest affidavit, Floriant admitted to choking Gomez-Simo and killing her because she was seeing other men and was talking about leaving the state without him. Floriant reportedly told deputies that he had listened in on a conversation she was having and was ignored when he questioned her about it.
If you or someone you know needs to escape a domestic violence situation, call 1-800-500-1119.
You can also find a list of domestic violence centers on the Florida Dept. of Children and Families website.
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