Overview

• Judge Jonathan Friedman ordered Hilda Vásquez jailed without bail and separated from her surviving children as she faces counts of negligent homicide and second-degree cruelty to a juvenile.
• Police say 12-year-old Bryan Vásquez drowned after sustaining blunt-force trauma from an alligator, and his body was recovered on August 26 from a lagoon in New Orleans’ Michoud area.
• Search teams reported multiple large alligators near the submerged body, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries later removed the reptiles for safety.
• Bryan, described by family as autistic and nonverbal, left home through a bedroom window on August 14; a doorbell camera captured him walking alone around 5 a.m. wearing only a diaper.
• Court and DCFS records document 2014 infant fractures involving Bryan and July 2025 drug screens that detected cocaine in the mother and a newborn, while residents also reported delays in the initial police response.