According to prosecutors, Alyssa Garcia, 27, kept her four-year-old son Manuel Aguilar locked naked in a storage room filled with urine and feces.
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A Chicago mother put clothes on her dead 4-year-old son, wrapped him in a blanket and set him on fire in an abandoned building because she didn’t want IL state to take away her other children, according to prosecutors.
She is alleged to have wrapped the boy’s body in a blanket, and took the corpse to an abandoned house with her 17-year-old boyfriend and his 19-year-old brother, Christian Camerena.
Authorities did not say how they are related to the boy, Manuel Aguilar, 4, who was discovered around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 1400 block of West Marquette Road. The children were placed with foster parents before being returned to Garcia in 2015 after she took parenting classes.
An abuse allegation of an older child this year was deemed unfounded.
The mother and her male teenage friend are being held on $2 million and $1 million bonds, respectively, the State’s Attorney’s office said. She faces felony counts of concealed death and attempted residential arson. This week, she told investigators that she didn’t seek medical attention for her son when she saw he wasn’t breathing because she was afraid her children would be taken away into protective custody again.
An assistant public defender said in court that in addition to Garcia’s twins, who were born premature, her other children are ages 6, 8 and 10.
In 2012, she was sentenced to 18 months supervision for endangering the life of a child.
“They [sic] boy was often made to remain completely naked because he would urinate on himself”. When she realized her child wasn’t breathing, she washed his body, wrapped him in a towel, put him in the trunk of her vehicle, and sprayed air freshener.
Area South Detectives are awaiting further results from the medical examiner as well as an official cause of death for additional possible charges, police said. The boy would have to knock on the door to be allowed to use the restroom, he said.
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‘Witness stated that Manny didn’t like being in the back room, and he would scream, ‘Let me out, ” Santini said, referring to the boy.
