Man arrested for killing, dismembering 11-month-old daughter

A Connecticut father accused of murdering and dismembering his 11-month-old daughter was taken into custody after nearly two weeks on the run, authorities said.

Christopher Francisquini, 31, was arrested at a bus stop in Waterbury on Friday around 3 p.m., police said. He was apprehended without incident after a person who had been following media coverage on the manhunt recognized him and called 911.

A reward in the case had recently been increased to $25,000 from $10,000.

Francisquini is accused of killing and dismembering his infant daughter Camilla on Nov. 18 in their Naugatuck home. She died of neck compressions and stab wounds, the chief medical examiner’s office said.

After the killing, the suspect got into an argument with the baby’s mother, who at the time was unaware her daughter was dead, police said. He then destroyed the woman’s cell phone and fled from their home in a 2006 gray Chevy Impala.

Francisquini, a felon with a lengthy rap sheet, is facing charges of murder with special circumstances and risk of injury to a minor.

“There’s a sense of relief that a dangerous criminal has been taken into custody and brought off the street,” Naugatuck Police Chief Colin McAllister said at a news conference Friday night.

Francisquini at the time of his arrest was on parole for a 2012 assault conviction, according to court records. Authorities said he cut off an electronic monitoring device from his ankle after he killed and dismembered his daughter. He was also free on bail in several pending criminal cases involving carjacking, assault and other charges.

Francisquini is being held on $5 million.

With News Wire Services