A woman found dead in her home along with her three young children had been in court four days earlier seeking child support from her slain 6-year-old twins' father, who has a lengthy criminal record, court records show.
A judge last Tuesday signed a final order requiring Antonio L. Anthony to pay $307 per month plus retroactive child support of $22,925 to 27-year-old Brandi Peters. Peters was found dead Saturday along with twins Tamiyah and Taniyah Peters and her 3-year-old son, Joyante Segura, at their Tallahassee home just a few miles from the Florida Capitol.
No one has been charged and police say all four deaths are considered homicides. Police said Monday that they have spoken to the father of the twins and the boy's father, Henry Segura Jr.
Peters also had obtained a final order in August for $744.47 per month and $20,100 in retroactive child support from Segura Jr.
Anthony, 44, who has a handgun tattooed on his left arm, has served three prison terms in the past 20 years, according Florida Department of Corrections records. He most recently was released in May 2009 after serving four years on two counts of cocaine possession and grand theft of a motor vehicle. His prior offenses were for aggravated assault with a weapon and armed burglary.
Anthony has no local telephone listing and could not be reached for comment.
Authorities were unable to find him in October when they tried to serve him with a notice to appear in court for the child support case. A return of service receipt said he did not live at either Tallahassee address listed for him and possibly had moved to Fort Lauderdale.
Peters and Anthony last week each signed a warning notice saying they are required by Florida law to inform the court of any address change within seven days.
Segura also has no telephone listing. A woman who answered the phone at the home of Segura's father said she didn't know how he could be reached.
The court file includes a letter Segura wrote in July asking for a paternity test based on a voicemail Peters had left for him.
"In the message she stated that I was stupid for signing a birth certificate for a child that was not even mine," Segura wrote.
The August administrative order, though, states the child's paternity was "legally established by affidavit or voluntary acknowledgment."
Child welfare officials received a call in November 2005 alleging unsafe conditions at Peters' home, but the case was closed the following month with no finding of an immediate threat to the family, said Department of Children and Families spokesman Joe Follick.
Peters also had a criminal record. She was placed on probation for a year after pleading no contest to simple battery in exchange for a reduction from aggravated battery.
Last year, Peters was placed on community supervision for two years for aggravated assault with a weapon and grand theft.