Man accused of beating mother of his unborn baby, killing 5-month-old fetus

A Fort Lauderdale man is accused of attacking a woman who was carrying his unborn child with a metal baseball bat in Pompano Beach last week, killing the five-month-old fetus.

Wearing a ski mask and clothed in all black, a man attacked the woman shortly before 1 a.m. Feb. 23 as she was walking toward her apartment through the complex’s parking lot. The woman told detectives the man started walking quickly toward her with the bat, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Underneath the mask was allegedly Emmanuel Prevaly, 34, of Fort Lauderdale, who the victim said she had been friends with since she was 8 years old and who she was dating. The week before the attack, he went with her to her latest doctor’s appointment, the victim told detectives, according to the affidavit.

As she walked toward her apartment, the man, without speaking, started hitting her head and arms with the bat and kicking her in the stomach, the affidavit said. She screamed for him to stop beating her, that she was pregnant.

The woman’s cellphone fell onto the ground during the attack, and she tried to use the iPhone’s virtual assistant Siri to call 911. Prevaly took the phone and continued beating her, according to the affidavit.

Neighbors who heard the screaming came outside, and Prevaly ran away. One witness chased after him, jumped over a fence and tackled him to the ground, the affidavit said.

Prevaly’s mask slipped off during the struggle. The witness told detectives Prevaly said, “You don’t understand. I know her. Let me go. I’ll pay you, man,” the affidavit said. The witness detained Prevaly until deputies arrived.

The victim had fractures in her spine and a deep gash that needed stitches, according to the affidavit. She knew that the attacker had been detained at the apartment complex but did not know who he was until she was told while in the hospital that it was allegedly Prevaly.

She told detectives she and Prevaly were currently working together and that they had started dating when he was released from prison in 2020, the affidavit said.

Florida Department of Corrections Records show Prevaly was sentenced in 2011 to 10 years and three months in prison for multiple robberies and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He was released in June 2020.

She told Prevaly about their baby when she was seven weeks pregnant. He told her that he was not prepared, according to the affidavit.

After the attack, doctors could not detect the baby’s heart beat, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Friday.

Prevaly in an interview with detectives denied being the attacker and that “they grabbed him instead of the guy,” the affidavit said.

He was arrested Feb. 23 on one count of attempted felony murder and one count of depriving the victim of calling 911, the Sheriff’s Office said. An autopsy determined the baby died from multiple blunt force injuries, and Prevaly was charged with killing an unborn child.

Prevaly was held in the Broward Main Jail as of Friday. The defense attorney representing him did not return an email seeking comment Friday afternoon.