Chilling note left by Florida mom who ‘shot dead five-month-old baby where husband proposed after he asked for divorce’ – before surviving suicide attempt

A woman who planned to kill her five-month-old son left a chilling note in her truck moments before taking the child’s life.

“I’m sorry for what I’m about to do,” Maria Rodriguez-Barnes wrote in a message left on the truck’s console, while also calling her husband and saying something similar.

Rodriguez-Barnes, 30, killed the youngster at the same spot where her husband, Richard Barnes, proposed to her years earlier.

The March 2020 murder occurred after he filed for a divorce. Florida prosecutors said.

Rodriguez-Barnes, 30, killed her five-month-old son in the same place where her husband, Richard Barnes, proposed to her years earlier

“I’m sorry for what I’m about to do,” Maria Rodriguez-Barnes wrote in a message left on the console of her truck, while also calling her husband and saying something similar

She then attempted suicide but survived, leading her to stand trial in Okaloosa County, where she was found guilty of first-degree murder.

The court heard how Rodriguez-Barnes placed her son in her Nissan truck and drove to The Boardwalk, a beach area with restaurants and shops in Fort Walton Beach on the Florida Panhandle.

While in the parking lot, she shot her son Jaxxon in the chest before turning the 9mm handgun on herself. Police later found bullet casings in the car.

“She took the only valuable thing from their relationship, which was the physical representation of their relationship,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Sandler said. “And because it was basically over – he said, ‘I’m done’ – she decided to kill her son.”

A witness discovered her lying on the ground, covered in blood, and called the police.

A jury convicted Rodriguez-Barnes, now 35, of murder earlier this week. She was sentenced to life in prison and will spend the rest of her life behind bars

When a deputy asked her what happened, she only said she was having trouble breathing and didn’t say anything about her son.

It wasn’t until a deputy searched for the weapon that the baby’s body was found on the floor of the truck, slumped on a pillow.

Prosecutors argued that the child’s death was premeditated. In addition to the note suggesting she was about to do something horrific, she had also sent messages to family members earlier that morning detailing her plan.

“There is no explanation that the show is more premeditated and shows more planning than that,” prosecutor Sandler said.

A jury convicted Rodriguez-Barnes, now 35, of murder earlier this week, the newspaper reported Sun Herald.

She was sentenced to life in prison and will spend the rest of her life behind bars.