A missing 12-year-old autistic boy was believed to have been killed by an alligator in a canal near his home in New Orleans as police investigate his mother.
Bryan Vasquez’s body was found on Tuesday morning as his death was described as a ‘failure’ by New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick.
Vasquez was determined to have died from blunt force trauma and drowned following an alligator attack after he went missing on August 14 at around 5.20am.
‘I think that the death of Bryan is a failure. I think it is,” Kirkpatrick said Tuesday, NOLA reported.
‘And as I said, we’re going to look at everything. I mean, everything.’
Bryan was determined to have climbed out of a window in his home on the morning that he went missing. It remains unclear when the boy died.
The boy’s mother, 34-year-old Hilda Vasquez, was served with a search warrant which took her phone into evidence as her previous charges related to child abuse have emerged in the investigation.
‘We’re looking at all aspects,’ NOPD Deputy Superintendent Nicholas Gernon said. ‘This is a fact-finding mission.’
12-year-old Bryan Vasquez’s body was found on Tuesday morning after he died from blunt force trauma and drowned following an alligator attack
A search launched after Bryan went missing on August 14 at around 5.20am when he snuck from a window at his New Orleans home
The boy’s mother, 34-year-old Hilda Vasquez, was served with a search warrant which took her phone into evidence as her previous charges related to child abuse have emerged in the investigation
Hilda Vasquez was charged in 2014 with cruelty to juveniles and second-degree cruelty to juveniles after then six-month-old Bryan, one of her four children, sustained a fractured skull and broken legs, NOLA reported.
She later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of simple cruelty to juveniles by negligent treatment or neglect.
The mother-of-four said that, after recently moving homes, she had not had time to install security measures that kept Bryan safe in the past. Bryan would often sneak away from their previous home and go to a nearby playground, Hilda said.
Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo, who has served as a translator for the family during the search for Bryan, said the investigation has been ‘like a war’ for their family.
‘She just was holding on to faith and fate,’ Rosales-Fajardo said.
‘When they finally confirmed that it is her son, she asked to see his body. Well, they’re not allowing her to see the body because of the decomposition … and the damage that the alligators caused.’
‘I brought them to my house, which is right around the corner from her house, and we just cried,’ Rosales-Fajardo added.
Meanwhile, Hilda has criticized the police response time after officers responded around five hours after Vasquez was reported missing.
‘Bryan was a bright, charismatic, and energetic young boy whose joy and spirit touched the lives of his family, friends and community,’ city officials said
The mother of four said that, after recently moving homes, she had not had time to install security measures that kept Bryan safe in the past
Kirkpatrick described the delay as ‘inordinate’ on Wednesday, the outlet reported.
‘We own the issue of the delay,’ she said, adding that an internal investigation had been launched into the delay.
‘We know that these are difficult outcomes, and we still have quite a grieving community and a grieving family. This investigation does continue.’
Deputy Superintendent Nicholas Gernon said no arrests or charges had been made yet.
‘This is a fact-finding mission, and the police department will go wherever the facts lead us to go,’ Gernon said.
‘Bryan was a bright, charismatic, and energetic young boy whose joy and spirit touched the lives of his family, friends and community,’ city officials said in a press release.
