The mother of an autistic 12-year-old boy who was killed by an alligator has been arrested by New Orleans police. 

Bryan Vasquez was found dead in a lagoon in New Orleans East on August 26. The cause of death was determined to be an alligator attack and drowning. 

The boy’s mother, Hilda Vasquez, is facing charges of second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and negligent homicide. 

Bryan went missing on August 14. At around 3am that day, Hilda was woken up by her son who struggled to sleep at night, according to WDSU. 

She took the boy back to his sister’s room to go back to bed, and she gave him a melatonin sleep aid.

Hilda said she then woke up at 7am to take her other, six-year-old son to school, leaving Bryan and her 11-year-old daughter home alone. 

She did not check on Bryan before leaving because his door was closed and she believed he was still asleep. 

When Hilda returned home, she once again did not check on Bryan and instead went straight to her bedroom. 

Around 10am, she called her daughter to come to run errands with her. That is when her daughter informed Hilda that Bryan was missing. 

12-year-old Bryan Vasquez was autistic and non-verbal, and he went missing on the morning of August 14 

Hilda Vasquez, the mother of Bryan, faced charges of second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and negligent homicide following Bryan’s death due to an alligator attack.

Hilda then went to check the children’s bedroom and found that the window was open. 

She said it was left unlocked because he had never tried to leave that way before, but Bryan had run away on two occasions in the previous weeks. 

The first time was on August 1. Vasquez and her partner searched for the boy before calling police and discovering that they had already found him. 

On August 4, an incident occurred when Hilda was sleeping. A neighbor discovered the 12-year-old alone and brought him back home, but this occurrence was not reported at the time.

The family then moved houses to the residence where Bryan would run away for the last time.

Their former house was close to a playground, and when Bryan would run away that is where he would go. Neighbors knew to bring him back. 

At the new house, Hilda had not yet set up an alarm or security systems to prevent Bryan from leaving. 

She locked an iron security gate in front of the house, but the boy used his bedroom window to escape. 

After almost two weeks of searching, Bryan was finally found dead in a lagoon near the Vasquez family’s home

Hilda had not yet set up an alarm or security systems to prevent Bryan from leaving

After an extensive search lasting nearly two weeks, Bryan was tragically discovered dead in a lagoon close to the Vasquez family residence. The coroner confirmed his cause of death was an alligator attack (stock image).

Hilda said she believed he was feeling cooped up inside the house after the move, unable to return to school because the special needs bus route he needed had not yet been set up.

‘He just wants to run,’ she told nola.com. 

When Bryan went missing on August 13, a large search effort was launched to find him. 

Volunteers looked for the boy every day from 6am to 7pm, only stopping when the light waned and swarms of mosquitos would begin to come out.  

Bryan ran away from home twice in the weeks leading up to his death

Relatives, friends and community members searched the streets of Village De L’Est where the Vasquez family lives. 

Some rode all-terrain vehicles and handed out missing person flyers that had been translated into English, Spanish and Vietnamese. 

Hilda waited at the community’s search headquarters set up outside her home.  

‘I want my child. He is my life,’ she said at the time. 

After almost two weeks of searching, Bryan was finally found dead in a lagoon near the Vasquez family’s home. The coroner determined he had been killed in an alligator attack. 

The New Orleans Police Department said they received records from the Office of Children and Family Services that showed multiple reports were filed against Hilda for child physical abuse and lack of supervision between 2013 and 2025.