Left: Marvin Redondo-Funes (Nassau County Jail). Right: Florida Welcomes You sign on I-95 (Google Maps).
A New York man is behind bars after he allegedly slowed his vehicle down in the middle of a highway to take photos of the “Florida Welcomes You” sign, resulting in the deaths of his niece and three nephews.
Marvin Redondo-Funes, 25, is facing four counts each of aggravated manslaughter of a child and driving with a license suspended or revoked causing great bodily injury, the Florida Highway Patrol said Wednesday. A criminal complaint said Redondo-Funes drove his girlfriend and the four children from New York to Florida for a vacation in July 2023. At around 4 a.m. on July 1, Redondo-Funes was driving down Interstate 95 near the Georgia-Florida border.
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As he and the group approached the “Florida Welcomes You” sign, Redondo-Funes allegedly slowed the car down to just 1 or 2 miles per hour in order to take a photo. The car behind them did not see him braking and plowed into the back of Redondo-Funes’ vehicle, according to FHP officials.
The speed limit on the highway is 70 mph, with a minimum speed of 40 mph.
The four kids riding with Redondo-Funes were reportedly sitting in the back seat, which was designed to only hold a trio. Three of the kids were also not wearing seatbelts, troopers say. Paramedics pronounced three of the children dead on scene while they rushed a fourth to the hospital. Doctors pronounced that child dead two days after the crash. The names of the youths are redacted from the report.
Per troopers, Redondo-Funes admitted to driving the vehicle. His license had been suspended by court order, according to cops. He and his girlfriend did not suffer serious injuries. The other driver also was not hurt.
A GoFundMe page said the kids were ages 10, 12 and two 14-year-olds. They were headed to Miami.
Cops arrested Redondo-Funes in New York and extradited him back to Florida on Nov. 2. He remains in the Nassau County Jail on a $270,016 bond.
“A picture is never worth a human life,” troopers wrote on X.
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