A mum behind bars has been accused of beating her four-year-old son to death just one year after she adopted him from Haiti and brought him to the United States.
Patricia Saintizaire, 36, adopted little Bryan Boyer in April 2023 and the little boy went to live with her in Davenport, Florida. But the boy, who tragically died in suspicious circumstances at the beginning of May, suffered "horrible" abuse at the hands of the woman, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
"We have a video clip where that 3-year-old baby's hands were tied behind his back, and she threw him in the swimming pool in the backyard," Judd said, adding: "He's dead because she beat him to death. It is beyond my wildest imagination how anyone could abuse a beautiful little fella like this child was abused and neglected."
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Authorities said Saintizaire also has a 16-year-old son she adopted from Haiti - and the teen is now in protective custody. The sheriff's office was notified by staff at Orlando Health Hospital on May 2 after a medical exam showed the boy had an abdominal bleed that could not be treated by emergency surgery.
His body was then taken to the District 9 Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, following which it was declared that Bryan died from assault/blunt force trauma. The manner of death was ruled as a homicide, as Judd said: "What we have learned during this investigation just turns our stomachs."
The little child was found to have old and new scarring on his back as well as a deep laceration on his liver. He also suffered bruising and haemorrhaging to his arms and legs. The medical examiner's decision was that Bryan's injuries were consistent with ongoing abuse.
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Investigators spoke to Saintizaire's oldest son who said his adoptive mother told him to "say nothing so I don't get in trouble" and threatened to kill him with a gun, Fox News reported. He told detectives that his brother was "happy and behaving normally with no injuries" when he came back from school before he died.
However, the teen said he later noticed his brother was "unable to walk on his own and struggled to sit up on his own" when Saintizaire told him to take food to the child. However, he said his mother claimed the boy was "faking it" and told him to feed him before Bryan became unresponsive.
The teenager then began performing CPR on the child and insisted they needed to go to the hospital. The woman denied ever using physical discipline as punishment for either child, the sheriff's office said, but during a forensic review, detectives found two videos on her phone - one showing Saintizaire allegedly hitting the young boy with an unknown object while he was on the floor and another clip showing her allegedly throwing Bryan into a pool with his hands tied behind his back.
The woman has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and tampering with a witness. The case is still under investigation. Judd encouraged anyone who suspects a child is being abused to call the authorities.