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Man Allegedly Kills Wife, Posts Photos on Facebook

By Aditi Mukherji, JD on August 12, 2013 | Last updated on November 29, 2021

After a Florida man allegedly killed his wife, he reportedly posted photos of her body on Facebook.

Derek Medina, 31, turned himself in to authorities and confessed to fatally shooting his wife, Jennifer Alonso. A Facebook page with the name Derek Medina showed a grisly photo of a woman lying on the floor with her arm and face drenched in blood, Reuters reports.

The Facebook post could be a smoking gun for proescutors, but is it admissible?

Facebook Evidence

To use the Facebook information as evidence, prosecutors will need to authenticate the account. It will need to verify:

  • That the account belongs to Medina (by verifying the user name, password and/or email),
  • That the posting came from a computer affiliated with Medina (by requesting records from the social networking company),
  • The time and date stamp,
  • That Medina actually made the posting from the identified computer or electronic device at the recorded time.

Fortunately for the prosecution, the Facebook evidence is lining up pretty closely with the facts of the case.

A message posted on the page under Medina's name read, "I'm going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife," according to Reuters. It went on to say, "My wife was punching me and I'm not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I did what I did. Hope you understand me."

That's pretty much what Medina told police, according to an arrest report that says Medina shot Alonso because she continued to punch him.

Perhaps the clearest link of all, the photo was allegedly captioned "RIP Jennifer Alonso."

Floridian Heat of Passion?

Medina's attorney may try to argue that the graphic Facebook evidence shows Medina acted in the heat of passion.

Sounding an awful lot like another Florida man who made headlines, Medina was reportedly known to carry a concealed gun as a self-appointed neighborhood watchman who was always "trying to be a hero," a neighbor told reporters.

Maybe there's something in the water in Florida?

Since Medina and his wife were both fighting, it's possible he may try to take a page from Zimmerman's playbook and argue that he shot her in self defense.

The Facebook page allegedly belonging to Medina has been taken down, Reuters reports. Medina is being held without bail in a jail's psychiatric ward pending his arraignment, The Miami Herald reports.

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