Patricia Saintizaire and Bryan Boyer (Polk County Sheriff”s Office).
A 38-year-old Florida woman who beat her “unwanted” 4-year-old son so often that he didn’t even resist until he eventually died faces a life sentence.
Patricia Saintizaire was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and tampering with a witness in the death of her 4-year-old son, Bryan Boyer, the State Attorney’s Office for the 10th Judicial Circuit said.
Saintizaire adopted and brought Bryan to the U.S. from their native Haiti in April 2023 when he was 3 years old, according to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office news release. But the child was “unwanted” — and Saintizaire treated him as such.
“What we’ve learned during this investigation just turns our stomach,” said Sheriff Grady Judd in a news conference after her arrest. “We have a video clip of where that 3-year-old baby’s hands were tied behind his back, and she threw him in a swimming pool in the backyard.”
The events leading up to the death began on May 1, 2024, after the boy had come home from school “happy and behaving normally, with no injuries,” authorities said.
An older brother went to another room for about two hours and did not see or hear what happened to the younger boy before Saintizaire told the teen to bring food to him, authorities said. That 16-year-old noticed the little boy couldn’t walk, struggled to sit up, was lethargic and not responding, officials said.
Saintizaire said he was “faking it” and told the teen to give him something to eat. But the boy couldn’t eat and went unconscious, authorities said. The older brother began performing CPR on the child and told Saintizaire they needed to take him to the hospital, officials said. Saintizaire took the boy to a hospital in Davenport, but because of his significant injuries, he was flown to a hospital in Orlando, where he died, officials said.
The sheriff’s office learned about the death the following day, when hospital staff notified authorities that a 4-year-old child had died under suspicious circumstances, authorities said.
An autopsy showed he had been beaten. His spleen had a significant tear that the medical examiner said could have been nothing other than a hard strike to the abdomen, Judd said. Medical examiners also found layers of bruises and injuries from prior beatings. He had scarring on his back, with old scarring showing, and fresh scars from the time the boy was living in the U.S. between April 2023 and May 2024, authorities said.
His liver had a deep laceration caused by a targeted blunt force trauma injury, officials said. The bruising to his arms and legs was consistent with ongoing abuse, authorities said. The boy’s cause of death was ruled as assault and blunt force trauma, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, authorities said.
Judd said that in addition to the video of him being thrown into the pool, another video showed Saintizaire beating him in the back as he lay face down on the floor, not even resisting, “just like it’s a normal occurrence.”
Judd said she denied to investigators that she ever used physical discipline as punishment. Her husband told detectives he didn’t discipline the children, but she did.
“She was the disciplinarian,” Judd said.
Initially, the 16-year-old boy denied being abused or witnessing abuse to investigators, but after he was put into child protective custody and Saintizaire was jailed, he admitted to detectives that she told him, “When they ask you something, say nothing so I don’t get in trouble,” authorities said. He also said she threatened to kill him with a gun, officials said.
Judd remarked that despite Bryan’s abusive treatment, staff at his school said he was happy.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is beyond my wildest imagination how anyone could abuse a beautiful little fellow like this child was abused and neglected,” the sheriff said.
Judd said the boy is in a better place.
“If you search for a positive, it’s that he’s in the arms of God right now, and he’s no longer being beaten,” Judd said. “He’s no longer being punched. He’s no longer being tied up and thrown in the swimming pool.”
Saintizaire will have her fate sealed on Aug. 14, when she is expected to be sentenced to life in prison.
Jason Kandel contributed to this report.
