Crofton father sent to psychiatric hospital after attack on family

A Crofton father pleaded guilty yesterday to slashing the throats of his wife and teenage daughters while having what state doctors described as a psychotic episode.


Julio Cesar Esquetini, 50, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree assault and one count of child abuse in the county courthouse in Annapolis.


The plea was part of a deal that ensured Esquetini would not be sent to prison, but would be committed indefinitely to a state mental facility.


A state doctor found Esquetini not criminally responsible for the early morning attack, and Circuit Judge Philip T. Caroom had him committed to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.


Wearing brown slacks and a white button-up shirt, Esquetini, originally from Ecuador, spoke quietly in Spanish with his wife, Ximena, who was sitting nearby. Their two daughters, Paula, 19, and Andrea, 13, huddled in a vestibule leading to the courtroom, peeking in through a window throughout the hearing.


Although prosecutors came to court yesterday prepared for trial, they moved forward with a plea agreement at the urging of the victims, said Kristin Fleckenstein, a spokeswoman for the State's Attorney's Office.


At the time of the attack, Esquetini, an American citizen, was working as a civil engineer at the Reddy Ice packaged ice company, where he'd been employed for seven years, according to Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Palan. He was in charge of production and distribution at the Landover office.


Prosecutors said that in the months leading up to the crime, staff had been cut back at the office, forcing Esquetini to work many extra hours and be on calldaily. He began having symptoms of anxiety and major depression, which worsened in the weeks leading to the stabbings.


The family said Esquetini seemed fine the night before. He had found someone to cover for him at work and took his wife and daughters out to dinner. When they got home, Paula went to bed and Andrea watched television with her parents in their bedroom. She said there were no problems when she went to bed around 10 p.m., said Assistant State's Attorney Anastasia Prigge.


At about 6:30 the next morning, Paula was leaving her bathroom when Esquetini said her mother was sick and vomiting. He asked Paula to get a trash can from the bathroom. Paula later told a detective she heard a gurgling in her parent's bedroom, and assumed her mother was getting sick.


Paula was walking out of the bathroom with the trash can when Esquetini slashed her throat with a box cutter, Prigge said. He slashed her a second time, almost knocking her into the bathtub, and then a third time. Paula ran into her bedroom, slammed the door and called 911.


Her younger sister awoke to the sound of Paula screaming. When she came out of her room, Esquetini slashed her throat.


Julio Cesar Esquetini, 50, admitted to an Anne Arundel County judge that he slashed the throats of his wife and two daughters on the morning of June 15 before cutting himself.


Today the judge accepted the psychiatrists' findings saying that Esquetini 'snapped' because of depression and anxiety relating to work pressures.


Esquetini was found not criminally responsible for his actions and was committed to the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.


Esquetini's wife and daughters have since recovered from their injuries.