Son testifies about last time he saw his mother, sisters in killer’s death trial

In a Miami courtroom on Tuesday, Michael Padrino Jr. recalled how he didn’t want to join his mother and his two young sisters on a shopping trip to the mall almost 14 years ago.

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Instead, Padrino, who was then 5, stayed with his great-grandmother to watch “Caso Cerrado,” a Spanish-language reality court show, in her Homestead residence. That decision probably saved the life of Padrino, who is now 19.

Padrino took the stand in the sentencing trial of Alberto Sierra, 42. Sierra admitted to suffocating his estranged wife, Gladys Machado, 29, and her daughters Julia Padrino, 6, and Daniela Padrino, 3, with a plastic bag on Nov. 10, 2012. Their bodies were found inside a closet at the Flagami home they once shared three days after they were killed.

READ MORE: Killer calmly confessed to suffocating his wife, her 2 girls with a plastic bag

The fate of Sierra is in the hands of 12 jurors who are tasked with deciding whether Sierra, who pleaded guilty to the murders, should be condemned to death or sentenced to life in prison. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez is presiding.

Prosecutor Lara Penn displayed a photo of Padrino smiling alongside his sisters Julia and Daniela. Padrino testified that they dressed up for that photoshoot around Easter.

Padrino’s aunt, Christina Padrino, who adopted him, also took the stand. She said Machado made efforts to reunite the family after her divorce from the children’s father. She recalled how she last reached out to Machado on Nov. 12, 2012, but never heard back — and ultimately discovered the terrible fate Machado, Julia and Daniela suffered.

READ MORE: Evidence shows mother, 2 girls suffered ‘slow death’ as killer suffocated them

Channon Castro, Machado’s friend, choked up when she was shown a picture of her and Machado. She said they met at Beauty Schools of America, where she was a cosmetology instructor and Machado was a receptionist.

Castro wiped tears as she recounted how their children played together. She said she called Daniela “little peanut.” Machado often confided in her and invited her to meet her new love interest days before the murders on Nov. 4, Castro said. She posted photos of their meet-up on her Facebook page.

During Castro’s testimony, prosecutors also played voicemails Castro left to Machado when she and the girls were missing. In one, Castro is heard saying “Where are you? I’m worried.”

After finding out that something had happened to Machado, Castro went to her house and saw police and crime scene investigators at the scene.

Osiris Fernandez, the owner of a daycare center where Machado would drop off her kids, also testified on Tuesday. She said they quickly became friends, and Machado considered her an older sister.

Fernandez said she gave Machado advice on raising children and navigating relationships. Their children, she added, went to the park and enjoyed barbecues together.

During Fernandez’s testimony, jurors did not hear that Machado had told Fernandez that she feared Sierra would kill her if she left him. They also didn’t hear, from Castro or Fernandez, that Sierra and Machado had a history of domestic violence.

Fernandez detailed how Machado’s grandmother came to the daycare when Machado was missing and asked Fernandez for help in locating her. Fernandez said she called Sierra and asked him if he knew anything because she and Machado’s grandmother were worried about her.

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Sierra, Fernandez testified, said that he didn’t know anything. He asked her to keep him informed on Machado’s whereabouts, so they began a text thread.

Covering up the killings

That text thread was reviewed by Miami-Dade Sgt. Sergio Cremisini, an expert in digital forensic evidence, who extracted information from Sierra’s phone in 2012, 2018 and 2026. Sierra’s phone had photos of him smiling alongside the girls and a video of Julia, Daniela and Michael Padrino Jr. dancing together, which were shown to the jurors.

In the series of texts with Fernandez, Sierra speculated that Machado may have had a car accident with Julia and Daniela. Fernandez said she attempted to locate Machado in hospitals but couldn’t find her.

Sierra also shifted attention to Machado’s former partner, implying that Machado was trying to have him arrested.

“What if he did something to her to not put him in jail,” one of the messages stated.

Sierra also told Fernandez that when Machado left him, she did not answer the phone for a week. He said Machado’s employer informed him that she didn’t show up at work also added that he heard Machado had a problem with a boyfriend at a party and ended up staying at a shelter.

“The problem is not with me because it was, I would be in jail by now,” Sierra said in one of the texts.

Days after the bodies were discovered, Sierra texted Fernandez, telling her he came back from police station and was “not a suspect anymore.” Detectives interviewed Sierra on Nov. 14, swabbing him for DNA before letting him go.

It wasn’t until days later on Nov. 19 that Sierra confessed — when detectives confronted him about how his DNA was discovered “where it shouldn’t have been” on Julia’s underwear.

In other texts, Sierra instructed his mother not to tell anyone that he met up with Machado on the weekend of the murders.

“What happened? Why?” Sierra’s mother said in a message. She later texted, “I really hope you have nothing to do with this.”

“Of course not, Mom,” Sierra said in another message.

On Nov. 14, the same day Sierra was interviewed by police, his mother took him to see a religious leader in the Santería faith, according to the texts.

Before the trial, the judge blocked prosecutors from presenting evidence related to Santería, the Afro-Caribbean religion with roots in the Yoruba faith that incorporates some Catholic elements. Prosecutors had intended to introduce testimony that Sierra participated in a Santería ceremony after the murders.

Cremisini also testified about how Sierra deleted messages he received from Machado on the morning of the murders, including her saying “I’m going to miami in a few ill call u to c if ur home” and “R u ready”

Around 8 p.m. the day of the killings, Sierra received a text from Machado that said “i’m not going to make it to your house,” Cremisini said. On Nov. 11 at almost 2 a.m., Machado’s phone made a call to Sierra, which prosecutors argue was intended to throw police off track.

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He texted Machado on Nov. 12, saying he hadn’t heard from her in a while.