A nonverbal 12-year-old boy who went missing earlier this month in New Orleans was discovered dead from an alligator attack, according to authorities.
Little Bryan Vasquez drowned after suffering blunt force trauma during an alligator attack, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick announced during a press conference on Wednesday.
He went missing on Aug. 14 after climbing out a window in his bedroom at 5 a.m., WDSU reported.
After a nearly two-week search, Bryan’s body was tragically discovered on Tuesday with the grim injuries in a lagoon in the city’s Michoud neighborhood, cops said.
“We know these are difficult outcomes, and we still have quite a grieving community and a grieving family. This investigation does continue,” Kirkpatrick told reporters.
Authorities allegedly did not respond to a 911 call about the missing boy for five hours.
The delay has sparked an internal investigation, Kirkpatrick said.
“I don’t have all of the facts, and there could be reasons to explain the five-hour delay. But on its basis, it’s inordinate,” she said.
Authorities had obtained a search warrant for cell phones belonging to the boy’s parents, his family told WDSU, though the superintendent claimed the move could “mean nothing.”
Less than an hour after the nonverbal child disappeared, he was spotted on security footage wandering outside in only a diaper, NBC reported.
The United Cajun Navy, a volunteer emergency response group, used a drone team to find Bryan. The search was delayed and complicated by several environmental conditions, Todd Terell, president of the group, told WWLTV.
The investigation has switched from a missing persons investigation to an unclassified death investigation, authorities said.
Kirkpatrick has since asked the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to exterminate the lagoon of “nuisance alligators” and bring in hunters to control the population.
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