Dead girl's father says he is innocence, not a monster

The father of a 5-year-old girl apparently thrown from a sixth-floor apartment denied involvement in her death in a letter published Thursday.

Alexandre Nardoni, who is being sought on a temporary arrest warrant, said in a widely published letter to the public that he has been erroneously linked to the death Sunday of Isabella de Oliveira Nardoni.

The 29-year-old father also defended his wife Anna Carolina Jatoba, the girl's stepmother, who also is sought by authorities and who wrote her own letter denying involvement.

Under warrants issued Wednesday, Nardoni and Jatoba could remain in custody for 30 days while police investigate, and their detentions could be extended.

"I hope someday I'll be heard as a father who grieves the loss of his daughter, not like a monster, which I'm not," said Nardoni. "We are not guilty, those guilty will be found."

The couple remained at large Thursday, but their lawyers said they planned to turn themselves in.

Nardoni has claimed an intruder killed his daughter. He told police he left his daughter on her bed to go down to the building's parking lot to help his wife and other two children. He said he locked the apartment's door, but she was gone when he returned.

Police treated the death as homicide because there was blood in Oliveira Nardoni's room and a hole in the window's safety netting.

Police believe she was thrown from her father's apartment but were not sure whether she was killed before or after the fall.

Preliminary tests revealed there were marks around her neck and indications in her lungs that she may have been strangled.

Authorities also were investigating whether the fall was staged because only her wrists were broken, according to initial medical exams.

"The life of my princess was taken in a tragic way and I'm not being allowed to miss her because I'm being condemned for something I didn't do," Nardoni wrote.