JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The former boyfriend of the woman convicted Tuesday of shooting and killing her twin 4-year-old boys was afraid that she would hurt somebody.
Anthony Ortiz just thought Leslie Demeniuk was going to hurt herself, not her children.
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"I knew something was going to happen, I just never dreamed it was going to be this," Ortiz said Wednesday. "I feared for her own life. I never thought this would happen."
Instead, Demeniuk killed her sons as they watched television in a Sawgrass home on March 17, 2001.
Ortiz was the one that found the boys' bodies and called 911.
Despite all that has happened, Ortiz said he still loves Demeniuk.
"I'll always stand by her side," Ortiz told Channel 4's Dan Leveton the day after she was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. "I'll always be there when they go to court. I'll always try and help her. I believe in her 100 percent."
Like her attorneys, Ortiz places the blame for the murders on the side effects of anti-depressants she was taking.
"She was a free spirit, and the thought of her taking this drug...," Ortiz said. "I knew that there was something wrong; it was not the medication she should have been prescribed."
Ortiz says Demeniuk even went to the doctor with her concerns and her medication was changed from Zoloft to Paxil. Two days later, Ortiz walked in to find her two boys shot to death.
Defense claims that a drug interaction contributed to a mental state where she was not responsible for her actions were not allowed at trial. Motions on that issue and others were the main reason the case took more than five years to go to trial.
Last week, nearly five years after that incident, Ortiz testified at Demeniuk's trial.
"It was very hard to see her, because I believe in her 100 percent," he said through tears. "It brought back a lot of memories and pain."
Ortiz copes with that pain by doing extensive research on the effects of antidepressants. He also passes out flyers, he says, to educate the public about the potential dangers.
With Demeniuk facing life in prison, he wants her not to give up.
"There's still people who believe in her," Ortiz said. "A lot of people who are still going to fight for her."
Previous Stories:
- January 17, 2006: Mother Found Guilty In Slayings Of Twin Sons
- January 12, 2006: Medical Expert Says Mother Who Killed Her Sons Had Psychotic Episode
- January 10, 2006: Jury In Demeniuk Murder Trial Hears Grim Crime Scene Evidence
- January 6, 2006: Father Of Slain Twins First To Testify In Murder Trial For Ex-Wife
- January 5, 2006: Jury Selected In Trial For Mother Accused Of Shooting Twins
- January 4, 2006: Trial Begins Of Mother Accused Of Killing 4-Year-Old Twins
- April 26, 2002: Detective: Woman Killed Twins To Spite Ex-Husband
- March 21, 2001: Drugs, Alcohol Can Induce Violent Behavior, Doctors Say
- March 20, 2001: 911 Tapes: Boyfriend Finds Twins' Bodies, Panics
- March 19, 2001: Mother Charged With Killing Twin Sons
