The mother of a 12-year-old boy who was killed by an alligator is charged and told to keep her other children away.
Criminal charges have been brought against the mother of a boy who was killed by an alligator after he strayed from their Louisiana home.
About two weeks after the body of her 12-year-old son, Bryan Vasquez, was discovered in a lagoon close to the family’s New Orleans home on August 26, Hilda Vasquez, 34, was arrested on Sunday, September 7, according to ABC News. Vasquez was accused of negligent homicide and second-degree cruelty to minors.
Bryan did not understand Spanish or English due to a neurodevelopmental disorder. According to a press release from the Louisiana State Police, he was last seen wearing only an adult diaper.
Vasquez, who cares for three other children, including a newborn, has a history of negligence, police said Sunday, per NOLA.com.
“There has been a pattern of both negligence and abuse over Bryan’s 12 years,” Deputy Superintendent Nicholas Gernon said during a press briefing on Sunday. “We believe that we can prove that that pattern of negligence and abuse led to severe… undue pain and suffering on his part.”
When Bryan was just 3 months old, he was taken to the hospital for a skull fracture, broken legs and a collapsed lung, Gernon said, per ABC News and WWL-TV.
At the time, Vasquez told authorities she did not know how he sustained the injuries. Bryan was removed from his mother’s care, but the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services allowed him to be placed back in the home at some point, per Gernon.
Vasquez was convicted of cruelty to a juvenile for the 2013 incident, WVUE and WWL-TV report. According to Gernon, Bryan was removed from the home, but the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services later returned him, per ABC News.
During her arraignment on Monday, Vasquez told the judge she planned to hire an attorney, but was appointed a public defender, per WWL-TV. While the case is pending, she cannot contact her children. If she is released on bail, she will be ordered to stay at least 600 feet away from them. She was also ordered to attend a domestic violence abuse program and a monitoring program, and barred from possessing a firearm.
The New Orleans Police Department said the case remains an “active and sensitive investigation,” ABC News reported.
“Our detectives will continue to pursue every fact and every aspect and to any investigative leads,” Assistant Superintendent Hans Ganthier said during Sunday’s press conference. “Out of respect for the ongoing process, a lot of the details cannot be released.”
The time it took officers to respond after Bryan climbed out of his window around 10 a.m. on Aug. 26 is also being investigated, as police did not respond until 3 p.m. that day.
“We know that we had a five-hour delay,” New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ann Kirkpatrick said during an Aug. 27 press briefing. “We immediately opened up an internal investigation, which is a formal investigation on ourselves for that time delay.”