Overview

• Awilda Lopez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in her daughter Elisa’s 1995 death and, after a 15-to-life sentence, was granted parole on April 19, 2022.
• Autopsy findings documented broken bones, internal injuries, burns and evidence of sexual assault consistent with prolonged abuse.
• Records describe missed interventions, including a March 14, 1995 letter warning of confinement and abuse and neighbor reports of beatings that were not pursued.
• A judge later criticized welfare services, and an NYPD official called it the worst child-abuse case he had seen in 22 years.
• Earlier custody had been with Elisa’s father as her mother battled crack addiction, before custody returned to Awilda Lopez and the child was withdrawn from school.