On Sunday, December 13, Kimberly McLaughlin was at her common-law husband’s house, located in the Castleton Race Track area of Burrell Boom. According to her, someone called Anthony “Antics” Herrera, her mate, and when she opened the back door of his wooden house, two men attacked him. McLaughlin told police that the men were dressed in black and were wearing masks. Herrera died as a result of several chop wounds that he sustained in the attack, which occurred sometime around 2:30 a.m.
But not long after McLaughlin reported that version of the story about how her common-law husband, a popular jockey, died, she admitted to police that she was the one who inflicted the fatal chop wounds. As a consequence of her confession, police charged her with Herrera’s murder and she was brought before Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb-McKenzie this morning and arraigned on a single count of murder.
In a previous incident more than two years ago, Kimberly McLaughlin was charged with murder. But in the May 2006 incident, she had been using the name Kimberly Brannon, when she was charged with the murder of her former lover, Paul Gonzalez, and his girlfriend, Ruby Mendez. Kimberly Brannon attacked the couple with a six inch nail file, killing Gonzalez in the attack. The case did not succeed at trial, and Brannon was freed of the murder charge against her.
While she was in prison, she and Herrera began their ill-fated relationship. Kimberly (Brannon) McLaughlin was a substance abuser of crack cocaine and the relationship between Herrera and her was reportedly a stormy one.
Police found Herrera’s body in his house on Saturday morning around 8:30 a.m.
Kimberly McLaughlin was remanded to the Hattieville Prison and is to return to court on January 16, 2009.