He Hid Her Body Under A Quilt-The Story of Camilla Francisquini

He Hid Her Body Under A Quilt-The Story of Camilla Francisquini

“On the ground! On the ground! Put your hands down!”

The story I have for you today was another one that was recommended by one of you, and it actually took place pretty close to me in Connecticut. However, I had never heard of it until I started doing some research. It’s a story about an innocent baby girl who was horrifically murdered just weeks before her first birthday. This is the story of Camilla Francisquini.

Camilla Francisquini was born on December 3rd, 2021, in Naugatuck, Connecticut. Her mother’s name is Crystal Nieves, and her father’s name is Christopher Francisquini. Little Camilla was adored by her family and was a happy, smiley baby who rarely fussed. She also loved watching Cocomelon and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Camilla and her parents had been living with Christopher’s father, Ramon, Ramon’s wife, and Ramon’s daughter, Jasmine. The couple, along with Camilla, had been living in the basement of the home since December of 2020, when Chris had been released from prison. Chris had been in prison for pistol-whipping somebody close to death and had been sentenced in 2012 to 10 years behind bars, along with an additional 10 years of special parole for first-degree assault.

It was not long after his release, however, that Christopher was back in jail again in November of 2021. This time, it was for an alleged carjacking in West Haven, Connecticut. He had been arrested just hours after, and while in police custody, Christopher fought with police officers and tried to escape. He had actually stolen pepper spray from one of the officers and began spraying it at them, gaining additional charges. Keep in mind, this was only weeks prior to Camilla’s birth—probably not how a new dad should be acting.

Christopher would not be released until June of 2022 on special parole with a $375,000 bond. He was then fitted with a GPS ankle monitor. Christopher also had other arrests on his record, including possession of narcotics, risk of injury to a child, and assault and battery.

In addition to having a long criminal history, Camilla’s father Christopher also suffered from multiple mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder. Christopher had actually been put on medication for this, but his family said they did not believe he was taking his medications. One of the reasons they believed this was because Christopher had told Camilla’s mother, Crystal, that he heard voices—voices telling him to kill his father. But he said he would never do that and would never harm anyone, which is odd because it seems like he tried to kill somebody back in 2012 by almost pistol-whipping them to death. Chris could also be very paranoid, thinking that somebody was out to get him.

Since Christopher was incarcerated when Camilla was born, he didn’t get to spend the first few months of her life with her. However, when he was released, Crystal said that Christopher was a great dad who adored his daughter and always wanted to be around her. Christopher would frequently post social media pictures of him and Camilla together.

Under house arrest, Christopher grew increasingly impatient and irritable. He was upset that he couldn’t leave the house to look for a job. On top of that, he and Crystal had been arguing more and more, and had recently been talking about ending their relationship.

On the night of November 17th, 2022, Christopher ignored his father, Ramon. Ramon had just finished feeding Camilla, and Christopher had not come upstairs yet to get his daughter and put her to bed for the night. Ramon asked Christopher if Camilla was going to be sleeping in the basement with them or upstairs in her crib. Since Christopher didn’t answer his father, Ramon assumed Camilla would be sleeping upstairs in his room, so he went to his bedroom to put her down for the night. Ramon thought this was kind of weird, since the little girl’s parents were normally her primary caregivers, but on this night, Christopher seemed like he wanted nothing to do with his daughter.

The following morning, on November 18th, 2022, Ramon woke up early around 4:30 a.m. to drive Crystal to her job at Dunkin’ Donuts. After Ramon dropped Crystal off at work, he went back home to take a nap. At this time, he said he did not know if Camilla was still in her crib; he just assumed she was because the little girl would normally sleep until 11:00 a.m., and the playpen she was sleeping in had a blanket over the top so she wouldn’t get cold from the fan in the room.

When Ramon woke up from his nap around 10:00 a.m., he noticed a missed call from Crystal on his phone. When he called her back, she asked him for a ride home from work. He agreed, but prior to heading out of the house to pick up Crystal, Ramon heard his son Christopher in the basement, so he went downstairs to talk to him.

When he did, Christopher told his father, “I’m mad at you. I hate you.” Ramon asked him why, as he hadn’t done anything, but Christopher just laughed and walked away, brushing it off.

Ramon left the house to go get Crystal. When they got back home, Crystal was tired from working such an early shift and decided she wanted to take a nap. However, before she made it down into their basement bedroom, Christopher stopped her. He insisted that she did not need to lay down; instead, they needed to go shopping for Thanksgiving food. Crystal told him fine, she would go, but she needed to change her clothes quickly first.

Christopher did not want her to do that either and told her not to go into the room. He said it was too messy, but promised he was going to clean it when they got back home later. Crystal saw a quilt on the floor and just wanted to move it out of the way, but Christopher objected, saying, “I got to go before probation tells me no.” (I don’t think he was supposed to be out of the house anyway, and probation certainly hadn’t told him yes.)

Crystal and Christopher left for the store after this, borrowing Ramon’s Chevy Impala. The couple then headed to Waterbury. On the way there, Crystal said she saw Christopher texting somebody, though she didn’t know who it was. He was texting them in regards to a mental health treatment facility called CMHA.

Christopher and Crystal were supposed to be headed to Walmart to buy their Thanksgiving food, but on the way there, Christopher changed the plans. He “needed his medicine,” as he put it, so they were now going to be meeting up with somebody in the PetSmart parking lot. On their way to the store, many roads had been closed off, and Christopher had gotten angry at Crystal for it. His frustration built until they got to PetSmart and a car pulled up next to them with a male driver—presumably the person Christopher was meeting.

Right then, Christopher asked Crystal if he could have her cell phone. She gave it to him, and then he asked her a strange question. He asked Crystal if she would do absolutely anything for him, even if that meant putting on a collar and a leash and being led around by him. She obviously said no and asked for her phone back, but Christopher would not return it.

Crystal asked him several more times. Then Christopher said to her, “Since you want your phone so much…” and took both his phone and her phone, smashing them into the ground. Crystal, who was scared and upset by the way Christopher was acting, decided to walk into PetSmart to borrow a phone to call for another ride home. Police would later find the two smashed phones in the parking lot alongside a credit card with Christopher’s name on it and his cut-off GPS ankle monitor.

After she was able to make a phone call, Crystal returned outside to wait for her ride, noticing that Christopher and the Impala were gone.

Upon returning from the store, Crystal went down to their bedroom to clean up. As Crystal entered the bedroom, she noticed something red on the floor next to the quilt she had seen earlier. Figuring Christopher must have spilled something, Crystal lifted up the quilt.

Underneath, there was red everywhere, along with the lifeless body of her baby girl, Camilla.

Crystal started screaming, “The baby! The baby!” Her family members rushed downstairs to see that the little girl had been stabbed and dismembered. Christopher’s sister, who also lived in the home, called 911, while Ramon called his wife at work, telling her to come home because “Chris killed the baby.”

When the first responders arrived, paramedics checked Camilla for signs of life, but the little girl was pronounced dead at 11:46 a.m. on November 18th, 2022.

An autopsy of Camilla’s body was performed, revealing marks consistent with strangulation. Her cause of death was determined to be neck compressions with sharp force injuries, and her death was ruled a homicide.

Upon searching the home, investigators found several pieces of clothing in the basement bedroom where Camilla had been found and took them in as evidence. There were two gray Nike sneakers with blood splotches found on the other side of the room from where little Camilla lay. Family members later told the police that the shoes were indeed Christopher’s. Detectives also found a t-shirt, a gray child sock with blood on it, a towel, suspected marijuana joints, and a smoking device.

Police determined that Christopher Francisquini was their prime suspect and issued a warrant for his arrest. He was charged with murder and risk of injury to a child. A press conference was held on the day of Camilla’s murder to alert the public of the crime and warn them that their main suspect, Christopher, was on the run and likely driving the Impala.

The FBI became involved in locating Christopher, initially offering a $10,000 reward. After days of searching with no results, the reward was upped to $25,000. Search efforts were massive, featuring billboards along Interstates 84, 91, and 95 displaying Christopher’s picture, information, and the reward money for his capture.

Police spoke with all members of Camilla’s family. The last time anyone had seen Camilla alive was around 7:15 a.m., when Christopher’s stepmother (the one whose room Camilla had slept in the night before) kissed the little girl on the head before leaving for work.

Police also wanted to know why Ramon had almost immediately concluded that Chris had done it upon finding Camilla’s body. Ramon said it was because Christopher was the only one in the house at the time. Then he remembered that his daughter’s boyfriend, Angel, was actually in the house as well. However, Ramon was not concerned that Angel was involved in any way because Angel only ever left his room to take medication and eat; he was known to be very calm and non-confrontational. Ramon added that Angel had no idea what had happened to Camilla at the time of the interview.

When police spoke with Angel, he confirmed he had gotten up that morning, gone downstairs to make himself eggs and take his medication, and then returned to his room. He later heard screaming and saw police cars outside his window, but didn’t go outside because he didn’t know what was going on and didn’t want to get involved.

When Camilla’s mother, Crystal, spoke with police, she mentioned that when she got into the car with Christopher earlier that day to go to Waterbury, she noticed he was profusely sweating. When she asked why, he claimed it was because the heat was turned up so high in the car. She did not notice any blood on him at the time. Crystal was completely confused; Christopher had never shown any signs that he would ever hurt his baby girl, nor had he ever told Crystal about hearing voices in his head telling him to hurt their daughter.

Christopher’s sister, Jasmine, who also lived in the house, told police she was in and out of sleep from about 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. before getting up to get ready for work. Jasmine mentioned she may have heard a faint cry in the morning, but was unsure. She also noted seeing the Impala leave the driveway earlier and going downstairs to ask her father, Ramon, why Christopher was leaving when he was supposed to be under house arrest.

Soon, police began receiving reports of public interactions with Christopher. One tip led police to locate the gray 2006 Chevy Impala Christopher had been driving. The car was found abandoned with an empty gas tank on the side of Interstate 91 South in New Haven on the same day Camilla was murdered.

The caller who reported the tip told police he had helped Christopher while parked on the side of the highway. While on his way to pick up his son, the man drove Christopher to multiple gas stations looking for a gas can and let Christopher use his cell phone. After a while, the man explained he had to leave to pick up his son, but left Christopher with a few dollars and directions to New Haven.

Upon locating the Impala, police recovered 13 pieces of evidence, including a black folding knife—later confirmed to be the murder weapon—and blood splotches on the driver’s seat and other areas of the car.

There were reported sightings of Christopher on Quinnipiac Street in New Haven later that weekend. Another person called police reporting an interaction with Christopher, who had run out of gas again and asked for directions to the nearest bus or train station. The caller noted that Christopher had altered his appearance but remained recognizable.

Police finally took Christopher into custody two weeks after Camilla’s murder. On December 2nd, a citizen reported seeing Christopher at a bus stop. Officers surrounded him with guns drawn and placed him under arrest.

Body camera footage captured the arrest: “Get on the ground! On the ground! Get on the ground! Get on the ground now! Good, I got him, I got him! Get on the ground!”

Christopher was charged with murder under special circumstances, risk of injury to a child, second-degree breach of peace, and second-degree criminal mischief. He was held on a $5 million bond. During the two weeks he was on the run, Christopher missed two court dates in Bridgeport and Milford, racking up additional failure-to-appear charges on pending cases.

When Christopher appeared before Waterbury Superior Court, he waived his right to a probable cause hearing and entered not guilty pleas. His total bond amount was increased to $7 million. The judge issued protective orders barring Christopher from communicating with three unnamed people (presumably Crystal, his father, and his stepmother or sister).

During the hearing, Christopher’s attorney requested a self-harm watch. Even if he could miraculously post the $7 million bond, Christopher will not be released due to the revocation of his parole on prior cases.

At most hearings since his arrest, Christopher has refused to speak out loud to the judge or anyone else. During a brief hearing where his attorney requested a probable cause hearing, as Francisquini was being escorted out of the courtroom, his father had a major emotional outburst: “You’re not going to say nothing? You’re not going to say nothing? You’re not going to say nothing!”

Police soon discovered that on the day of Camilla’s murder, after leaving the PetSmart parking lot, Christopher had allegedly changed his clothes at an apartment in Waterbury before heading to New Haven. He had gone to the apartment looking for an acquaintance who was not home, but other occupants allowed him inside.

Several people told police they knew Christopher’s brother, but had not seen or talked to Christopher in years. They noted he was extremely sweaty and asked if anyone wanted to buy his dad’s car. Another person in the apartment mentioned Christopher used his phone to create fake Facebook and Snapchat accounts, and asked for a sweatshirt. Someone gave him a white sweatshirt with a black-and-white checkered pattern—the same one seen in security camera footage.

Ironically, four days before the homicide, Christopher had received a favorable report from his probation officers overseeing pre-trial defendants released on bond. He had even been granted permission to be off house arrest on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Christopher’s trial date for Camilla’s murder has yet to be scheduled. He is currently held at the Garner Correctional Institution, a facility for inmates with serious mental health disorders.

Little Camilla died just weeks prior to her first birthday, but her family and community celebrated her memory regardless. They gathered in the center of Naugatuck to hold a candlelight vigil. The Naugatuck Police asked the community to wear pink or display pink lights on Camilla’s birthday, December 3rd. Officers also wore pink “#JusticeForCamilla” bracelets in support.

Camilla’s mother, Crystal, spoke to the crowd, thanking them for their support and stating that the best birthday gift for her baby is justice. On the six-month anniversary of Camilla’s death, a private memorial service was held, attended by Naugatuck police officers deeply affected by the case. The service featured a Dogwood tree planting ceremony donated by the Waterbury Home Depot, with lilac lettering painted on a nearby stone reading: “Your memory will forever bloom.”

Thank you for listening to Camilla’s story today. Camilla’s murder was something nobody saw coming, but people as violent as Christopher was known to be can be completely unpredictable. From the sounds of it, he was a dangerous ticking time bomb, and sweet little Camilla didn’t stand a chance.