Dad Throws 5-Years Old Daughter Into Tampa Bay Beach

Police in Florida have arrested John Nicholas Jonchuck Jr., a father accused of throwing his 5-year-old daughter off of a bridge in Florida.

According to Associate Press, the police encountered Jonchuck shortly after midnight on Wednesday, January 7. He was driving about 100 mph toward the Sunshine Skyway bridge when a police officer caught up with him.  Jonchuck grabbed his daughter, Phoebe, from the back seat and carried her to the railing of the beach.

St. Petersburg police chief Anthony Holloway, said it wasn't clear whether Phoebe was alive when Jonchuck threw her into Tampa Bay about 60 feet below, though the officer said he "thought he heard the child scream."  

Phoebe Jonchuck's body was found in the water about an hour and a half later, police said. Her empty pink car seat was sitting in the back of her father's car when authorities stopped him in nearby Manatee County.

Police had an encounter with Jonchuck prior to him throwing his daughter off the bridge. A police officer interviewed Jonchuck through the phone because Jonchuck's own attorney, Genevieve Torres, had frantically called 911 to report that his client was acting "strange." 

Genevieve said Jonchuck had called her "God" and asked her to translate a Bible in Swedish when they met Wednesday to talk about his custody case for his daughter, Phoebe. Yet, police say when they talked to Jonchuck on the phone, nothing seemed odd and everything appeared okay.

John Jonchuck, 25, had custody of his daughter despite a lengthy arrest history involving his turbulent relationship with the child's mother.