Teachers: Slain girl acted as protector

MIAMI, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Nubia Barahona, a 10-year-old Florida girl allegedly killed by her adoptive parents, was very protective of her twin brother, teachers told investigators.

Her adoptive parents, Carmen and Jorge Barhona, are charged with first-degree murder and could face the death penalty. Police allege the couple abused Nubia and her twin brother Victor for years, binding their hands and feet, keeping them in a bathtub, beating, starving and torturing them.

The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post says deposition transcripts and other documents released by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office suggest Nubia was extremely compassionate and did everything she could to protect her brother and her adoptive siblings.

Ann Crawford, a professor of psychology at Lynn University in Boca Raton, said reports Nubia hoarded food at school and often looked unkempt is a sign she was likely neglected at home, the newspaper reported. She said Nubia's over-protectiveness of her brother Victor is also typical of children who are victims of neglect.

"Quite often, when there is neglect, the older child takes on the mother role," Crawford told the newspaper. "The child that is more stable psychologically will take care of the one that is less psychologically stable."

Nubia's body was found Feb. 14 in a trash bag in the back of Jorge Barahona's pickup along Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach, Fla. Her brother Victor suffered severe chemical burns.