News of Doom 2.0

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- A mother intentionally set herself and her two children on fire in a storage room at a Winter Haven motel last week, investigators said.

All three died in the blaze.

It's not known what led Priyakumari Master, 25, to kill herself, along with her daughter, Mahi, 3, and her son, Milan, 1. Autopsy results are pending.

Fire investigators said they found a melted cigarette lighter and a plastic gasoline container inside the room.

A Winter Haven man was charged with murder, accused of fatally beating his 4-month-old daughter Christmas Day because he wanted a son, authorities said.

Marcos Gomez-Romero, 28, told investigators that he beat Ariana Rodriguez Romero to death because he wanted a son instead of a daughter, according to a Polk County Sheriff's Office report.

According to deputy interviews, Gomez-Romero said he became angry every time he saw the girl. He also said that abusing his daughter became a habit, a sheriff's report showed.

Gomez-Romero told deputies that he would slap his daughter on the ribs while she was sleeping, and the Medical Examiner's Office said the girl had dozens of rib fractures, a bruised liver and a hemorrhage in her left eye, according to the Polk County sheriff's report.

Gomez-Romero told investigators that the beatings had gone on for months, the sheriff's report stated.