Texas woman arrested after remains of her 'missing' son, 2, are found in dumpster behind church
WACO, TEXAS: A mother of a small 2-year-old boy was arrested after his remains were found in a dumpster behind a Texas church on June 2. 35-year-old Laura Sanchez reported her son, Frankie Gonzalez, 2, missing from a Waco park on June 1. Sanchez faces one count of injury to a child currently. She is in the McLennan County Jail under the name Laura Villalon, on a bond of $500,000.
The police had issued an Amber Alert for the missing child on June 1, 7.30 pm. The search involved Waco Fire Department rescue crews combing the nearby Brazos River, while other officers spread out through the park, even bloodhounds from a Texas Department of Criminal Justice unit in Gatesville were roped in. When police and volunteers could not find the child, Sgt. Jason Lundquist of WACO police department says Sanchez told him that Frankie had spent the weekend with her adult son in Killeen and she said she last saw taken to the bathroom in Pecan Bottoms in Cameron Park by his older brother when he vanished. Police say other family members called that a lie.
An affidavit of the Sanchez's arrest revealed that detectives 'determined she told several lies' and later on, Sanchez confessed to the police that her son had passed away in her care on or sometime around May 28. She also reportedly admitted that she had lied to the police after she hid his body in the dumpster. The dumpster was located behind a church that was around three miles from the park where the child was reported missing. Police then found Frankie's body wrapped up in several trash bags in the dumpster.
Waco police spokesman Officer Garen Bynum said in a press conference on Tuesday, June 2: "This is a tragic scene for our community and for our police officers today, too."
"A lot of us are parents too and this is just heartbreaking to see, but we will do our absolute best to investigate this fully, like we do every case, for this child," Bynum revealed.
Bynum added, "Frankie did not die of natural causes." Sanchez had said that Frankie died around May 28 and that she had kept his dead body at home until May 30 when she disposed of the body. It is currently not known how exactly the child died. The mother has been charged with first-degree felony injury to a child with intent.
Waco lawyer Gerald Villarrial on June 5 confirmed to KWTX that Sanchez had lost custody of six older children several years ago over allegations and neglect. “She not only lost custody, her parental rights were terminated, and that’s because the main part of that was neglect and drug abuse. She was doing drugs during that time and couldn’t stop,” he said. Two of the dead toddler's siblings were placed in foster care after Sanchez's arrest, authorities confirmed.
We had earlier reported a similar case where a South Carolina couple were arrested and charged in connection to the horrific death of a four-year-old special needs girl found "stuffed in a drawer." The incident came to light after police responded to the Gentle Breeze Lane, Rock Hill, home of Jackleen Mullen, 23, and her boyfriend Audrevious Williams, 26, WRBL revealed. When detectives questioned Mullen about the girl, later identified as her four-year-old daughter India, the 23-year-old said she was staying with family.
However, when they conducted a search of the residence, they found the girl dead in the couple's bedroom in a dressing drawer. The child had shown signs of blunt force trauma and respiratory distress. The couple was charged with homicide by abuse or neglect in India's death and were denied bond.