Inset, top to bottom: Hilda Vasquez (WVUE) and Bryan Vasquez (NOPD). Background: An alligator in the lagoon where Bryan Vasquez’s body was found (WVUE).
A 34-year-old mother in Louisiana has been arrested after her 12-year-old son went missing and was later found dead from “blunt force trauma due to an alligator,” which caused him to “subsequently drown.” Hilda Vasquez was taken into custody over the weekend and charged with one count of second-degree cruelty to a child and one count of negligent homicide in the death of Bryan Vasquez, authorities announced.
Bryan was initially reported missing by his mother on Aug. 14, sparking nearly two weeks of searching by local, state, and federal authorities that ultimately ended in tragedy when his body was discovered by divers on Aug. 26.
The boy had fled his home after allegations that his mother had previously abused and neglected him.
“This is all been a pattern of behavior by the mother; this is not the first time that Bryan has been the victim of some sort of trauma and/or anything that we deem to be negligent,” Chief Deputy Superintendent Hans Ganthier of the New Orleans Police Department said during a news conference on Sunday. “So this is all a pattern and this is all established in the warrant.”
Deputy Superintendent Nicholas Gernon reiterated that point, telling reporters that investigators had found “a pattern of both negligence and abuse over Bryan’s 12 years,” saying authorities believe they can “prove that pattern of negligence and abuse led to a severe injury, undue pain, and suffering on his part.”
Gernon said such abuse began when Bryan was still a newborn.
“When he was 3 months old, she committed a skull fracture, broken legs, and a collapsed lung,” said Gernon. “At that point, he was removed from the home, and at some point subsequent to that, DCFS returned him back to the home.”
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A volunteer partaking in the search for Bryan was able to locate his body near a pair of alligators in a lagoon near the home and assisted authorities in recovering the child from the water, NOLA reported.
According to a report from local Fox affiliate WVUE, Vasquez told investigators she gave Bryan a sleeping pill the night before he went missing and then found him wandering around the home at about 3 a.m. while caring for his younger sister. She walked him back to the room he shared with his sister and went back to bed.
The following morning, Vasquez said she got up around 7 a.m. to take her 6-year-old to school, leaving Bryan and his 12-year-old sister home for the day. The siblings were not in school because the family had recently moved, and Vasquez had not yet registered the other children. Upon returning, she said she went into her bedroom and did not check on the kids until about 10 a.m., when her daughter informed her that Bryan was missing from their shared room.
The window in the bedroom had been left open, with Vasquez allegedly telling authorities she did not secure it because Bryan had never before attempted to abscond, local NBC affiliate WDSU reported. However, she did confirm that the boy had tried to run away twice, once he was found and returned home by police, and the other time it was by a neighbor. The second incident was not reported to authorities.
“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 reportedly wrote.
It was not immediately clear when Vasquez was scheduled to appear in court or whether bond had been set for her release.
