The New Orleans mother of a 12-year-old autistic boy whose body was discovered after he wandered away from home and was attacked by an alligator has been arrested.
Hilda Vasquez, 34, was taken into custody Wednesday on charges of negligent homicide and second-degree cruelty to juveniles in connection with the death of her son, Bryan Vasquez, according to New Orleans police.
“There has been a pattern of both negligence and abuse over Bryan’s 12 years, and so we believe we can prove that pattern of negligence and abuse lead to a severe injury, undue pain and suffering on his part,” NOPD Deputy Supt. Nicholas Gernon said during a press conference Sunday.
Bryan, who was nonverbal, slipped out of a bedroom window on August 14 and disappeared. Doorbell camera footage captured the boy, wearing only a nappy, walking alone down the street at around 5:20 a.m.
Nearly two weeks later, on August 26, the child’s body was discovered by a drone in a canal, and an autopsy determined he died from “blunt force trauma due to an alligator and drowning.”
Police said Vasquez gave conflicting statements in the days after Bryan’s disappearance.
Vasquez allegedly told detectives that on the night of August 13, she gave her son a sleep aid. She later woke around 3 a.m. to tend to her newborn and found Bryan in the kitchen looking for food.
Vasquez claimed she walked him back to bed in his sister’s room, but when she left the house later that morning to take another child to school, leaving Bryan and another child at the house alone, she admitted she did not check on Bryan.
It wasn’t until around 10 a.m. that Vasquez noticed her son was gone. She called out for her daughter, who told her Bryan had slipped out of the house again. That discovery launched a days-long search that drew in police, wildlife agents, volunteers and airboats.
A coroner's autopsy determined that Bryan drowned after he sustained trauma from an alligator, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said. The boy was found about 200 yards from where the search had started. Kirkpatrick said it is possible his body resurfaced after he died, which is common in drowning deaths.
“As a result of Vasquez’s failure to protect and check on Bryan, he sustained serious bodily harm after he left the residence and entered the water,” police said.
Investigators said Vasquez later revealed that Bryan had run away twice in the weeks before his disappearance.
On August 1, police found him naked and drinking from a drainage ditch. Three days later, a neighbor brought him home after finding him outside again, but that incident was never reported.
Police said Bryan was previously removed from the home as an infant after sustaining injuries, including a skull fracture, broken legs, and a collapsed lung, but was later returned by the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS).
“When he was three months old, she committed a skull fracture, broken legs, and a collapsed lung,” Gernon said. “At that point he was removed from the home, and at some point subsequent to that, DCFS returned him back to the home.”
The boy’s death also raised questions about the New Orleans Police Department’s handling of the case.
Relatives said there was a nearly five-hour delay between Vasquez’s 911 call and the arrival of officers at the family’s home. Kirkpatrick has acknowledged the gap and confirmed an internal investigation is underway.
She also said she asked the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to remove nuisance alligators from the area, which is home to the largest alligator population in the nation, the Associated Press reported.
Vasquez is currently held at Orleans Parish Jail Central Lockup.
