A distraught brother has recalled the horrific moment he learned his younger sister had been brutally raped and murdered by their mother’s boyfriend.
Josefina Cunningham, 3, was found in a bedroom of her family’s home in Rensselaer, new Yorkoutside Albany on July 7, 2023.
Little Josefina was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Rensselaer police arrested 33-year-old Robert Fisher, who they said was trying to regain access to the crime scene and interfere with the police investigation.
Rensselaer County authorities described Josefina’s murder as difficult and heinous.
“This was absolutely heinous. It’s something that the normal investigator, the normal prosecutor, doesn’t foresee,” District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly told reporters after Fisher’s August arraignment.
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Donnelly said Josefine was left in Fisher’s care.
“It has been very difficult for everyone – the innocence of the child, the brutality of the act,” added the public prosecutor.
“It’s just horrible for people. We signed up knowing there are going to be things that you can’t help but see, you can’t help smell, you can’t help touch, you can’t help feel,” Rensselaer Police Capt. previously said. , Robert Appleton, at Union of Times.
She said she found Josefina with bruises all over, with blood all over the bed.
Jy’Quan Stewart.
Jy’Quan Stewart, Josefina’s older brother, recalled the moment his aunt informed him that his younger sister had been killed.
“I was really shocked. I got in a Lyft and went straight to my house, and I saw yellow tape outside, police cars outside, everything locked up,” Stewart, 23, told The US Sun.
“I remember I saw my mother and told her where Robert [Fisher] was, and she said the police arrested him and took him back to the police station.
“She said she found Josefina with bruises all over, with blood on the bed.”
A devastated Stewart learned from investigators that his sister had been raped and murdered.
FEELING
The grieving brother revealed to The US Sun how his mother introduced Fisher to her children days before his sister’s murder.
Stewart said he felt something strange about Fisher the first time he saw him.
“Something felt a little off inside when I met him. It was a little weird. I just felt something in my gut,” he said, adding that his mother had only been seeing Fisher for a week.
“I’ve never seen my mom with a white guy before. Maybe that’s why, but I never spoke to her [about their relationship] – it was as if she was hypnotized.
“She was deeply in love with him. It was actually kind of weird.”
Fisher has pleaded not guilty to rape charges, murderobstructing government administration, resisting arrest and criminal damage.
Stewart recalled being left empty-handed by his sister’s alleged killer’s plea deal: “I remember at the arraignment, when he pleaded not guilty, there was outrage in the courtroom.
“I was still shocked. I just couldn’t believe this was happening.
“This never happened before. Not everything seemed real.
“It felt like a dream. It just didn’t feel real.”
Fisher is being held without bail and is scheduled for trial on July 31.
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