Boy missing 12 days found in lagoon after fatal gator attack, Louisiana cops say

A missing 12-year-old boy was attacked by an alligator and drowned in a marsh near his home, according to Louisiana officials.

Bryan Vasquez, described by the New Orleans Police Department as a nonverbal child with developmental disabilities, was found Aug. 26 by a volunteer with the United Cajun Navy, 12 days after he disappeared from home, police said.

Police chief Anne Kirkpatrick held a news conference Aug. 27 to announce the coroner had determined the boy died of blunt force trauma from an alligator attack, then drowned.

However, the coroner couldn’t determine how long he had been dead, the chief said.

The United Cajun Navy said volunteers spotted his remains using thermal drones.

“We knew that this was the last known location where Bryan was seen,” United Cajun Navy President Todd Terrell told news outlets during a conference broadcast by WDSU. “Five different state’s dog teams came in, and every one of them independent of each other alerted to this area.”

Jon Gusanders with the Cajun Navy said he was surveying the area the morning of Aug. 26 with a drone when he said he saw a “violent movement under the water’s surface.”

He brought the drone lower and said the child’s body surfaced with two large gators.

He alerted the Cajun Navy, which contacted law enforcement. As he waited for them to arrive, he said he used the drone to try to scare the alligators away from the boy’s body.

Gusanders said they appeared territorial over the body, and eventually police arrived to remove the remains, which by then had drifted into a bed of lily pads.

Kirkpatrick said the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is going to remove “nuisance alligators” from the area.

The police department has been criticized for its response, with Kirkpatrick acknowledging there was a five-hour delay in response after the initial 911 call came in reporting Bryan was missing. She said they’re conducting an investigation into the delay.

Police said they had already searched the lagoon where the boy’s body was found. They said they eventually “shifted (their) focus to more of an investigative means.”

The investigation is ongoing.