Mother of 12-Year-Old Boy Killed by Alligator Charged, Ordered to Stay Away from Her Other Children By Angel Saunders

The mother of a boy who was killed by an alligator after he wandered from their Louisiana home is now facing criminal charges.

Hilda Vasquez, 34, was taken into custody on Sunday, Sept. 7, roughly two weeks after the body of her 12-year-old son, Bryan Vasquez, was found on Aug. 26 in a lagoon near the family’s home in New Orleans, ABC News reported. Vasquez was charged with second-degree cruelty to juveniles and negligent homicide.

Bryan had a neurodevelopmental disorder and did not understand English or Spanish. He was last seen wearing only an adult diaper, according to a Louisiana State Police press release.

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.

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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.”

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In a statement to PEOPLE, the United Cajun Navy said they were able to find Bryan’s body after a “thermal drone picked up a heat signature” and “found human remains out in the marsh.”

The 12-year-old’s preliminary cause of death was determined to be blunt trauma consistent with an alligator attack and drowning, a spokesperson for the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office told PEOPLE via email on Aug. 27.

Vasquez will appear in court next week to determine whether or not she will be held without bond, WVUE reported.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.