John Jefferson
Insets, left to right: Vanity Cabrera (GoFundMe) and Pamela T. Cabrera (WTLV). Background: Authorities at the site of the crash that left Vanity dead (WTLV).
A 34-year-old mother in Florida will spend several decades behind bars for kidnapping her own 5-year-old daughter and leading police on a high-speed chase that ended with her crashing into a retention pond where she abandoned her daughter to drown while she sought to rescue herself.
Fourth Circuit Court Judge Jonathan D. Sacks on Tuesday handed down the maximum sentence of 30 years to Pamela T. Cabrera for causing the 2022 death of young Vanity Cabrera, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Sacks sentenced Cabrera after she reached a deal with prosecutors in January in which she pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated manslaughter of a child and one count of aggravated felony fleeing or attempting to elude causing serious bodily injury. Charges of vehicular homicide, battery on a law enforcement officer, and battery of an emergency medical care provider were dropped in exchange for Cabrera’s guilty plea.
During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Cabrera’s attorney, Public Defender Teresa Sopp, read from a note Cabrera penned in which she apologized for her actions, Jacksonville, Florida NBC affiliate WTLV reported.
“I’m very regretful for actions that resulted in my daughter’s passing,” Cabrera reportedly wrote. “I’m still suffering about my daughter, Vanity. I’ve been on my medications for two years and I plan on staying on my medications so something like that doesn’t happen again.”
Sopp, who had requested her client be sentenced to 10 years, argued that Cabrera was in the throes of a mental health crisis and that the state needs to place more emphasis on treating such illness rather than leaning on protracted incarcerations.
“Really got to get the state of Florida serious about funding mental health treatment centers, day care centers, overnight long-term care centers for people who desperately need this,” the public defender reportedly explained. “Otherwise, we’re gonna continue to have these sad, tragic, horrible cases when people have fallen through mental health care safety nets.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Cabrera on March 31, 2022, was armed with a knife when she went to her sister’s home and abducted Vanity. Cabrera’s sister had been Vanity’s legal guardian after Cabrera, who lived with mental illnesses including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, lost custody of the child to the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Cabrera’s sister immediately called 911 and authorities began searching for the missing girl. During the ensuing, 30-mile high-speed chase, the fleeing Cabrera ran every red light from Biscayne Boulevard to I-95 South, police said. She drove erratically, crossing lanes at high speeds and almost striking other drivers multiple times.
Cabrera began driving on the inside shoulder of the road while “passing semi-trucks” before attempting to get off at an exit, but she failed to negotiate the turn onto the ramp and went careening into a retention pond.
“Once the vehicle was submerged, the suspect escaped the vehicle and held onto a tire to stay afloat. The suspect observed the officers in the water and was yelling, ‘help me. Save me,”” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit. “The suspect made no attempt to try to rescue her daughter who was trapped in the front seat of the vehicle.”
Multiple officers jumped into the water to try and save Vanity but were unable to do so because “the vehicle sank to the bottom of the pond.” A dive team was later able to retrieve the victim who was already deceased inside of the vehicle.
A GoFundMe for Vanity said she was “the most loving child” who could “light up a room with just a smile.”
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