9-year-old Miami boy found dead. Mother told police he was abducted in ‘ambush.’
Update: Police say Patricia Ripley, 47, murdered her severely autistic 9-year-old son, Alejandro Ripley. Read more here.
A severely autistic 9-year-old boy was found dead in a Southwest Miami-Dade canal Friday morning, less than a day after his mother told police her son had been abducted by two men who had forced her to pull her car over, demanded drugs, then took the child.
By late Friday evening, multiple law enforcement sources told the Miami Herald that the boy’s mother, Patricia Ripley, was a focus of the investigation — just one day after her story set off a manhunt by law enforcement for the child across West Kendall.
That search came to a quick halt about 12 hours later when a witness called police and said there appeared to be a body floating in a pond on the golf course at the MIccosukee Golf & Country Club at Southwest 138th Court and 62nd Street, about four miles from where the alleged abduction took place.
A short while later the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said on Twitter that the missing child had been found dead. That was followed by a press release from the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians saying they were “deeply saddened to hear about the tragic loss of 9-year-old Alejandro Ripley.”
Miami-Dade Police, the lead agency in the investigation, said a body had been found on the property but had not officially confirmed by late Friday afternoon that it belonged to Alejandro, a child who suffered a form of autism that didn’t allow him to verbally communicate with others.
“He was an angel,” a neighbor told WPLG Channel 10. “All I can say is it’s so painful. It’s very, very painful.”
Almost 24 hours after the bizarre abduction tale, no suspects had been taken into custody and there was no sign of the vehicle that Patricia Ripley claimed had forced her off the road before, she said, her child was taken away from her.
Ripley and her husband and other family members, however, remained at police headquarters late Friday afternoon, where they continued to be interviewed by homicide detectives, said Miami-Dade police spokesman Christopher Sowerby-Thomas. And a source familiar with the investigation said a security camera at a Home Depot near where the alleged abduction took place showed Ripley sitting in her car alone — without Alejandro — for 20 minutes before she called police at 8:47 p.m.
Police said they arrived within two minutes.
Ripley told police that she was driving west on Kendall Drive when she noticed she was being followed by a light blue, four-door sedan. As she neared Southwest 158th Avenue, she told police, the vehicle tried to sideswipe her, forcing her to bear right onto the avenue. Eventually, she said, the car raced in front of her and cut her off and forced her to stop.
That’s when, according to Ripley, a man dressed in all black, his face covered with a bandanna, but his corn rows visible, approached her and demanded drugs. When she said she didn’t have any, the man grabbed her cellphone, then pulled Alejandro out of the vehicle and drove off, she said, adding there was another man inside the other vehicle.
Ripley said Alejandro was wearing a blue Captain America shirt, black shorts and black Crocs when he was taken from her. It wasn’t immediately clear where Alejandro attended school. A spokesperson for Miami-Dade Public Schools said Alejandro wasn’t listed as a student anywhere in the county.
Even so, Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho tweeted about the child’s death. Only a day earlier the superintendent stood before a row of microphones at a police station discussing the accidental shooting deaths of two young girls.
“Heartbroken over this innocent boy’s unfathomable death,” Carvalho wrote. “ I didn’t have the chance to meet Alejandro, but his sweet smile has left an indelible impression. Praying that this case will soon be solved and those responsible brought to justice.”
MIami-Dade County court records hint that Alejandro may have attended a West Kendall special needs school called Greater Heights Academy. The court records show the school sued Patricia Ripley in 2016 over about $4,100 in unpaid tuition for her son. The case settled months later after mediation. Social media posts indicate that Alejandro has a 21-year-old brother.
News of Alejandro’s death and the story of his abduction drew the immediate attention of the special needs community. Friendship Circle of Miami, which helps those in need develop life skills, set up a drive-thru memorial service for the child Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. at 8700 SW 112th St.
The non-profit said that though Alejandro, who is non-verbal, is not a member, he’s considered “part of our extended family.” Anyone who wishes to attend must remain in their vehicle and wear a face mask. The agency will collect sympathy cards, mementos and flowers that will later be delivered to Alejandro’s family.
“We are shocked and saddened by the loss of life of this precious young child whose body was found a few miles from our campus,” said Rabbi Yossi Harlig, the nonprofit’s executive director. “No child should ever be in this position, especially a child with special needs who cannot call out for help. We all grieve for Alejandro and his family.”
Miami Herald Staff Writer David Ovalle contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 10:51 PM.
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