Miami mother of drowned autistic boy admits leading him to canal
Patricia Ripley, the West Kendall mother who initially claimed her severely autistic 9-year-old son had been kidnapped, ultimately admitted she was to blame for the child’s death at a canal and said “he’s going to be in a better place.”

(Transcript of conference by Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle)
“The death of a child is tragic; the killing of a child is horrific. As Miami-Dade Police Director Freddie Ramirez, who is here with me today, knows all too well, nothing is more horrible then the death of a child. Our community is shocked by the killing of nine-year-old Alejandro Ripley and the story surrounding this crime. Alejandro had a developmental disorder commonly described as Autism. The 4'11" boy weighed one hundred and twenty pounds and was non-verbal, and his mother falsely accused two black men of kidnapping him. The police found Alejandro’s body Friday morning, wearing his blue Captain America t-shirt and a diaper in the area of 67th Street and 138th Court.

The police obtained a video showing Ripley push Alejandro into a canal of 103rd Avenue and Candle Drive at approximately 7.30 pm. Local residents heard screaming and went to assist, and they found Alejandro in the canal and rescued him. An hour later, she again brought him and led him to a different canal, located by Southwest 67th Street and 138th Court. Unfortunately, this time, there was no one there to save him.