Mom charged after nonverbal son who disappeared from home is killed in alligator attack

The mother of a nonverbal 12-year-old boy who died following an alligator attack more than a week after he went missing from his New Orleans home was arrested.

The mother of a nonverbal 12-year-old boy who died following an alligator attack more than a week after he went missing from his New Orleans home was arrested.

Hilda Vasquez, the mother of Bryan Vasquez, was taken into custody Sunday evening on charges of second-degree cruelty to a juvenile and negligent homicide, the New Orleans Police Department said at a news conference.

Authorities said Vasquez was charged with cruelty to a juvenile because this was not the first time Bryan had been "the victim of any sort of trauma."

She was previously arrested and convicted after Bryan, then 3 months old, suffered a skull fracture, broken legs, and a collapsed lung, authorities said. He was removed from the family’s home, but later returned to Vasquez’s care.

An attorney for Vasquez did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.