A nonverbal New Orleans boy who disappeared earlier this month was found dead Tuesday and appears to have died in part from an alligator attack, officials said.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said Wednesday that Bryan Vasquez, 12, drowned after suffering blunt force trauma from an alligator.
His body was found in a lagoon in the city’s Michoud neighborhood, Kirkpatrick said.
An investigation into the boy’s death, which Kirkpatrick said is considered “unclassified,” is ongoing.
Vasquez’s Aug. 14 disappearance prompted a frantic search and scrutiny on the police department after revelations that authorities did not respond to a 911 call about the boy for five hours.
Kirkpatrick said Tuesday that it wasn’t clear what caused the delay, but she said she immediately requested an internal affairs investigation.
“Something’s not right here,” she said of the response.
A spokesperson for Vasquez’s family told NBC affiliate WDSU of New Orleans that authorities obtained a search warrant for cell phones that belong to the boy’s parents.
It isn’t clear why. Kirkpatrick said it is not “an unusual step for us to take a look at everything.”
“It may mean nothing,” she said.
Vasquez, who had a neurodevelopmental condition and did not understand English or Spanish, was last seen on the morning of Aug. 14.
The boy’s family told WDSU that he left through his bedroom window around 5 a.m. Less than a hour later and blocks from his family’s home, security video obtained by the station showed him wandering around wearing only an adult diaper.
Kirkpatrick said the United Cajun Navy, the volunteer emergency response group, helped lead the search team that found the boy’s body.
An official with the group told a local television outlet that the boy was found by a drone team after days of challenging conditions stalled their efforts.
Despite the grim circumstances of the boy’s recovery, he said, “we were able to bring Bryan home.”
