Latest / This is monsters / The Boy Who Was Buried in the Backyard _ Christopher Rodriguez _ Larissa Rodriguez

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The Boy Who Was Buried in the Backyard _ Christopher Rodriguez _ Larissa Rodriguez · This is monsters

0:07
Speaker 1: How are you, ma'am? I'm calling from overseas, but I
0:13
Speaker 1: guess I need to talk to, like, an detective or somebody. Basically,
0:17
Speaker 1: it's kind of messed up, the whole situation, but my
0:20
Speaker 1: brother told me something, and I just can't sleep at
0:24
Speaker 1: night as far as, you know, what it– I don't know.
0:29
Speaker 1: I just kind of feel like I need to say something.
0:31
Speaker 1: You need to report something concerning a brother?
0:33
Speaker 2: Yeah.
0:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but... No,
0:38
Speaker 1: what is your kid? Where is he? He lives off
0:42
Speaker 1: of Detroit, so I don't know his direct address. Basically,
0:49
Speaker 1: he told me that something happened with one of the kids,
0:54
Speaker 1: and they didn't call the cops, and basically he buried,
0:59
Speaker 1: him and his girlfriend buried the kid in the backyard. Now,
1:03
Speaker 1: mind you, my brother is known to lie a lot,
1:05
Speaker 1: so I kind of like blew it off, and I
1:07
Speaker 1: was like, hey.
1:08
Speaker 3: Man, I hope that ain't true. On December 18, 2017,
1:13
Speaker 3: a call came into the emergency services system in Cleveland, Ohio.
1:18
Speaker 3: The caller was living in Pakistan at the time, but
1:20
Speaker 3: he had been told by his brother a few months
1:22
Speaker 3: prior that one of the children in his Cleveland home
1:25
Speaker 3: had died and that he had buried the child in
1:28
Speaker 3: the backyard. He wasn't sure if he was telling the truth,
1:32
Speaker 3: but it was eating away at him, and he wanted
1:34
Speaker 3: the police to do a welfare check so that he
1:36
Speaker 3: could find out the truth. Unfortunately, the truth would be horrifying.
1:42
Speaker 4: This is Monsters.
1:43
Speaker 3: Monsters Larissa Rodriguez was born on September 16th, 1983 in Cleveland, Ohio.
2:24
Speaker 3: Larisa explained that her father had died when she was
2:27
Speaker 3: about five and that her mother, Emma Rojas, had surrendered
2:30
Speaker 3: her to the foster care system. It's reported that Larisa
2:35
Speaker 3: had like 14 siblings from her mother, but the only
2:37
Speaker 3: two siblings that come up in this case are an
2:40
Speaker 3: older sister, Michelle Rodriguez, and a younger sister, Anna Rodriguez.
2:45
Speaker 3: All three were sent to live with the same foster family,
2:48
Speaker 3: Carlos and Nora Rodriguez. The home was described as abusive
2:53
Speaker 3: and it's reported that Larissa was sexually abused. Larissa said
2:57
Speaker 3: in her interrogation that she was molested when she was
2:59
Speaker 3: 5 years old by her 18-year-old foster brother. She told
3:04
Speaker 3: an investigator that her foster family kicked her out when
3:07
Speaker 3: she was 14 and she went back to live with
3:10
Speaker 3: her mother. It sounds like that was when she got
3:13
Speaker 3: pregnant for the first time and it was reported that
3:15
Speaker 3: her getting pregnant caused her family to not allow her
3:18
Speaker 3: to come home. Emma did not give her a stable
3:21
Speaker 3: home as she was out on the streets doing drugs
3:24
Speaker 3: and making money through sex work. Larissa had her first child,
3:28
Speaker 3: a son named Angel Bolivar, on November 27, 1998. Not
3:33
Speaker 3: much is known about that child as he was no
3:36
Speaker 3: longer living with Larissa at the time of this case.
3:39
Speaker 3: She told authorities that he was placed in foster care
3:42
Speaker 3: at some point. It sounds like that was pretty early
3:45
Speaker 3: on as none of her children's other fathers ever mentioned
3:47
Speaker 3: him being in the household. When Larisa was 20, she
3:51
Speaker 3: had her second child and began having another baby every
3:54
Speaker 3: few years. It seems that they all had different fathers.
3:59
Speaker 3: Her second oldest was born in 2003 and eventually went
4:03
Speaker 3: to live with relatives in Puerto Rico. Her first daughter, Mariana,
4:08
Speaker 3: was born in 2005 and would remain with Larisa. She
4:12
Speaker 3: would be the first of many of her children who
4:14
Speaker 3: had the last name Rodriguez and the father is unknown.
4:19
Speaker 3: On July 22, 2007, Emma Rojas, Larissa and her sister's mother,
4:24
Speaker 3: was stabbed multiple times by her boyfriend. She managed to
4:28
Speaker 3: get out of the house and made it down the
4:30
Speaker 3: street to a Walgreens drugstore where employees called 911. She
4:35
Speaker 3: ended up succumbing to her wounds and her boyfriend, Juan Mateo,
4:39
Speaker 3: was arrested and convicted of the murder. When police caught Juan,
4:43
Speaker 3: he still had blood on his hands and the bloody
4:45
Speaker 3: knife was found in the bushes down the street. Near
4:49
Speaker 3: the beginning of 2009, Larissa began dating a man named
4:53
Speaker 3: Christopher Upton, who she had known growing up. After about
4:57
Speaker 3: six months, he found out she was cheating on him,
4:59
Speaker 3: so he broke up with her. He got a call
5:02
Speaker 3: from Larissa a few months later, where she told him
5:05
Speaker 3: she was pregnant, and he said he would have no
5:07
Speaker 3: problem coming to the hospital when she had the baby
5:10
Speaker 3: and taking a paternity test. If it was positive, they
5:13
Speaker 3: would go from there. Nevaeh Rodriguez-Upton was born in October
5:18
Speaker 3: of 2009. And then I didn't get another call.
5:23
Speaker 5: I got a call the day she was getting released
5:25
Speaker 5: from the hospital. Didn't get a call when she was,
5:28
Speaker 5: and I live right by Metro. I could have walked,
5:30
Speaker 5: you know, went there and been in the delivery room.
5:33
Speaker 5: I got a call a couple days later, and then
5:35
Speaker 5: she said that her, the boyfriend Milton at the time,
5:39
Speaker 5: was going to race Nevaeh.
5:40
Speaker 6: And I'm like, okay. She goes, but we still need
5:43
Speaker 6: to go through a DNA test.
5:44
Speaker 4: And I said, okay.
5:45
Speaker 5: So we went down, DNA tested her. Um, and then
5:50
Speaker 5: when I got the results, I tried to see her
5:52
Speaker 5: and Milton was very abusive to her. Um, she was
5:56
Speaker 5: always had bruises and everything else. And, and I had
6:00
Speaker 5: told her, I said, uh, you know, this is my daughter.
6:02
Speaker 5: I want to see her.
6:03
Speaker 6: And she kept, she kept blaming Milton saying Milton wouldn't
6:07
Speaker 6: allow it.
6:07
Speaker 4: And you know, whatever.
6:09
Speaker 7: Milton was abusive to Larissa.
6:11
Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah.
6:12
Speaker 5: They've, she's bouncing around so much. There was cops called
6:15
Speaker 5: to almost every, every house that she's been to. Um,
6:19
Speaker 5: and then one day he was in jail for hitting
6:22
Speaker 5: her and she called me and she said, Hey, would
6:25
Speaker 5: you like to meet your daughter?
6:26
Speaker 4: So I went.
6:27
Speaker 6: Over there, met Nevaeh and I thought that was going
6:30
Speaker 6: to be the start of it.
6:31
Speaker 5: I thought I was going to have a relationship with
6:32
Speaker 5: Nevaeh and it wasn't until Nevaeh was almost two till.
6:37
Speaker 6: She finally called me again.
6:38
Speaker 5: And, uh, she sent pictures and, And a letter to
6:41
Speaker 5: my mom's house and her and Milton had broken up.
6:43
Speaker 6: She had had little Milton by then.
6:46
Speaker 5: And she had said she had moved over in the.
6:51
Speaker 6: Little projects that they used to have across from Tri-C.
6:54
Speaker 5: And she said, why don't you come over and, you know,
6:56
Speaker 5: we can sit down and we can discuss and everything.
6:59
Speaker 4: And I said, okay.
6:59
Speaker 6: I said, but I'm in a serious relationship now.
7:02
Speaker 5: I said, so my girlfriend at the time, who's now
7:05
Speaker 5: my wife, is going to be part of Nevaeh's life too.
7:08
Speaker 6: I'm like, so I'm going to bring her. You guys
7:10
Speaker 6: can meet each other.
7:13
Speaker 3: At that point, he was in a serious relationship with
7:15
Speaker 3: a woman who had become his wife, and they had visitation.
7:19
Speaker 3: They were supposed to have Nevaeh for a few days
7:21
Speaker 3: at a time here and there, but it got to
7:23
Speaker 3: the point where the girl was spending 90% of her
7:26
Speaker 3: time with them. Of course, by that time, Larissa had
7:30
Speaker 3: given birth to Milton Arroyo Jr. in 2010, so it
7:34
Speaker 3: seems as though she had already lost interest in Nevaeh.
7:38
Speaker 3: In April of 2012, Patrick Strawn moved to Cleveland and
7:42
Speaker 3: he was living with relatives when he met Larissa on
7:44
Speaker 3: a lesser-known social media site called MocoSpace. He would later
7:49
Speaker 3: tell investigators that she told him she only had two
7:52
Speaker 3: children at that time. After a few months, she told
7:56
Speaker 3: him that she was pregnant and they went to the
7:58
Speaker 3: doctor to get a confirmation. They were told she was
8:01
Speaker 3: about 12 weeks pregnant and when he questioned her about
8:04
Speaker 3: whether he was actually the father, he said Larissa became
8:08
Speaker 3: angry and punched him in the face. Patrick said that
8:11
Speaker 3: he bought a bus ticket that day and left Cleveland.
8:15
Speaker 3: He said he got multiple messages on social media with
8:18
Speaker 3: threats of violence if he ever came back. He cut
8:21
Speaker 3: off communications and didn't have any future contact with Larissa.
8:26
Speaker 3: While this case was being investigated, a paternity test was
8:29
Speaker 3: conducted and it confirmed that Patrick was the father. Jordan
8:34
Speaker 3: Rodriguez was born on November 11, 2012. Jordan was born
8:40
Speaker 3: premature at 26 weeks, which is extremely premature but still
8:44
Speaker 3: in the viable range. Because of the premature birth, Jordan
8:48
Speaker 3: suffered from a number of health problems. He only had
8:52
Speaker 3: one kidney and the rest of his organs were underdeveloped.
8:55
Speaker 3: He also had developmental delays mentally and would remain non-verbal.
9:00
Speaker 3: In 2013, Larissa gave birth to another son, Anthony Cummings Jr.,
9:05
Speaker 3: who would continue to live with her. By 2014, Nevaeh
9:10
Speaker 3: had been living primarily with Christopher Upton, visiting Larissa on occasion.
9:16
Speaker 3: One day, when Nevaeh was about four, she told her
9:19
Speaker 3: father that one of the other children in Larissa's home
9:22
Speaker 3: had molested her. Those allegations were never substantiated, but it
9:26
Speaker 3: did trigger Christopher to file for full custody of his daughter.
9:31
Speaker 3: He was eventually awarded full custody, and Larissa was given visitation.
9:35
Speaker 3: He explained that, when Nevaeh came to live with him,
9:38
Speaker 3: she was only in the 52nd percentile for physical development
9:42
Speaker 3: and described her as, quote, a little bag of bones.
9:46
Speaker 3: She soon gained weight and became a straight-A student at school.
9:51
Speaker 3: He said that when Nevaeh was still visiting Larissa, she
9:54
Speaker 3: had come home and told him that she'd changed diapers
9:56
Speaker 3: and fed some of the young children. He said that
9:59
Speaker 3: Larissa oldest daughter, Mariana, did most of the care for
10:02
Speaker 3: the children, and it seemed like he was unhappy that
10:05
Speaker 3: Nevaeh was being made another caretaker. Eventually, Larissa just stopped
10:11
Speaker 3: showing up to pick Nevaeh up for her visitations.
10:14
Speaker 6: I think it was July of, uh, 15th? Is this
10:20
Speaker 6: the last time she's seen him?
10:28
Speaker 5: She's had no contact whatsoever, no phone calls, no Facebook messages,
10:34
Speaker 5: nothing with Nevaeh on all of that time.
10:37
Speaker 6: She practically just stopped showing up to pick her up.
10:41
Speaker 5: She was supposed to pick her up every other Sunday
10:43
Speaker 5: for six hours at the CVS on West Boulevard. Never
10:47
Speaker 5: got a call, never got a text saying, hey, I'm
10:49
Speaker 5: not going to make it, hey, you know, can we
10:51
Speaker 5: switch weekends, nothing like that, I showed up for the following,
10:58
Speaker 5: probably 90 days, three months, three to four months, every Sunday,
11:03
Speaker 5: so would sit there for a half hour, no show, finally,
11:07
Speaker 5: and I want to say it was about October, right
11:09
Speaker 5: before Halloween, I told Nevaeh, I said, I'm not taking
11:12
Speaker 5: you there anymore, obviously, and Three months, she hasn't showed up.
11:15
Speaker 6: She's not going to show up. We're wasting our time
11:17
Speaker 6: to go sit there. I didn't even.
11:20
Speaker 5: Get her dressed half the time because I knew she
11:22
Speaker 5: was going to come right back home anyways. So I
11:26
Speaker 5: brought her back home in her pajamas, and we started
11:29
Speaker 5: our day from there.
11:31
Speaker 6: Like I said, no contact, no nothing, just as if
11:34
Speaker 6: she fell off the face of the earth.
11:36
Speaker 7: Was that painful for her?
11:38
Speaker 4: It was.
11:39
Speaker 5: Nevaeh dealt with the times where she would say, why
11:42
Speaker 5: doesn't my mom love me?
11:43
Speaker 4: Why?
11:45
Speaker 6: Why doesn't she want me?
11:46
Speaker 4: You know, why, why.
11:48
Speaker 6: Does she stop coming to get me?
11:50
Speaker 5: She, to me, she blamed herself, you know, and Nevaeh
11:54
Speaker 5: is one of those to where she, she does what.
12:00
Speaker 6: She thinks is going to get your approval. She doesn't
12:03
Speaker 6: like needs approval.
12:04
Speaker 4: Exactly.
12:05
Speaker 5: She, she's one of those where even now she kind
12:08
Speaker 5: of knows what's going on. Um, I think she sometimes
12:12
Speaker 5: tells me what I want to hear. Instead of really
12:14
Speaker 5: showing her emotions or anything like that, that was part
12:19
Speaker 5: of the reason why I got her in counseling, because
12:20
Speaker 5: I thought the counseling would help her to where she
12:23
Speaker 5: can discuss to them how she feels without the burden of,
12:28
Speaker 5: is she going to disappoint me?
12:29
Speaker 6: Is she going to disappoint Larissa?
12:33
Speaker 3: At the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014, Larissa
12:37
Speaker 3: began dating a man named Jacob Wagner, who had lived
12:40
Speaker 3: across the street from where she lived at the time.
12:43
Speaker 3: Jacob would tell investigators that Larissa was still with Anthony
12:47
Speaker 3: Cummings Sr. at the time, and once they broke up,
12:49
Speaker 3: he moved in with her. Of course, she got pregnant
12:53
Speaker 3: and had a daughter, Tatiana Wagner, in October of 2014.
12:58
Speaker 3: Jacob was interviewed by investigators in 2017, and he was
13:02
Speaker 3: very forthcoming with how things were in the home.
13:06
Speaker 7: During this period of time, how was she treating Jordan?
13:10
Speaker 2: She was treating him good. Really good, actually. Jordan was
13:14
Speaker 2: always with her nonstop. Around this time, he started eating
13:17
Speaker 2: baby food. She was feeding him on time, changing his diapers,
13:23
Speaker 2: trying to teach him how to crawl.
13:28
Speaker 7: So during the time that you live with her, she
13:30
Speaker 7: treats Jordan appropriately?
13:32
Speaker 6: Yeah.
13:34
Speaker 7: When do you leave?
13:37
Speaker 4: For good?
13:37
Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.
13:40
Speaker 4: It was maybe like.
13:46
Speaker 2: About March 2016. Um, but towards the, towards the, um,
13:54
Speaker 2: a little towards the end, she started getting really bad
13:56
Speaker 2: with Jordan.
13:58
Speaker 7: Um, in what way?
14:00
Speaker 6: Every way, every way.
14:02
Speaker 7: Um, so, so the beginning of.
14:04
Speaker 2: 2016, she's no, um, Probably around the end of 15,
14:13
Speaker 2: it got really bad.
14:15
Speaker 6: And he's three?
14:17
Speaker 4: Yes.
14:18
Speaker 7: He just turned three?
14:19
Speaker 4: Yes.
14:20
Speaker 7: When you say she becomes really bad with him, what.
14:24
Speaker 4: Do you mean?
14:24
Speaker 2: We moved into 98th, and she just got so bad.
14:30
Speaker 6: The house was always dirty.
14:33
Speaker 2: I did my best. I got real close to Jordan
14:36
Speaker 2: and Avea because... You know, for some reason, those two
14:41
Speaker 2: connected the best with me. You know, and I felt
14:46
Speaker 2: so bad for those two. I had to stop her
14:48
Speaker 2: several times for hitting Jordan. Several times. I told her, stop, stop.
14:53
Speaker 2: There was a point she pulled a knife out on
14:55
Speaker 2: me due to it. Nevaeh, I was happy in a
15:02
Speaker 2: way to see Nevaeh go. I was sad because I
15:04
Speaker 2: felt like I was losing my best friend, you know.
15:08
Speaker 2: But The poor little girl, you know, she was always just,
15:12
Speaker 2: she would sit there and tell her bad things about
15:14
Speaker 2: her dad. You know, she, she was probably five or five, five, six.
15:22
Speaker 2: If I was, she, she would just tell him bad
15:24
Speaker 2: things about her dad. Um, once, once we got out
15:29
Speaker 2: of there, we moved into a 80th and Detroit. That's
15:32
Speaker 2: where all this happened at.
15:36
Speaker 6: I was handing out in and out, in and out,
15:38
Speaker 6: living out.
15:38
Speaker 1: Of my car.
15:40
Speaker 2: Um, I remember one time I walked, I walked in
15:44
Speaker 2: cause me and her sorted things out over the phone.
15:46
Speaker 2: You know, I went to store, picked up some food
15:48
Speaker 2: for him. I walked in and she was trying to
15:52
Speaker 2: potty train Jordan and she, she was calling him a retard.
15:58
Speaker 4: Uh, what else?
16:00
Speaker 2: She made fun of the size of his head. He
16:02
Speaker 2: had a lazy eye. She would call him cross-eyed. Uh,
16:05
Speaker 2: she would tell him she would want to smack him
16:07
Speaker 2: in the face because he looks like his dad. But
16:11
Speaker 2: when I walked in that door, she shoved a goddamn
16:14
Speaker 2: sock in the kid's mouth and shoved him in the
16:16
Speaker 2: corner because he was crying because she hit him and
16:18
Speaker 2: put him in the corner.
16:21
Speaker 3: He described that Larissa was initially really good with Jordan,
16:24
Speaker 3: but near the end of their relationship, when Jordan was
16:27
Speaker 3: about three, she was becoming increasingly abusive. I've covered a
16:32
Speaker 3: lot of cases of filicide, where a parent kills their child,
16:35
Speaker 3: and it's quite common for a child to be treated
16:37
Speaker 3: well while it's still a baby, but become abused as
16:41
Speaker 3: it becomes a toddler. A lot of times, the parent
16:44
Speaker 3: has gone on to have another child, so they have
16:46
Speaker 3: another baby to focus on, and the older child becomes
16:49
Speaker 3: a source of frustration. Potty training, feeding, and dealing with
16:54
Speaker 3: tantrums become sources of resentment, especially when they're still too
16:58
Speaker 3: young to take up household chores. Once a child is
17:01
Speaker 3: old enough to take care of other children or do
17:04
Speaker 3: household chores, they might experience some relief, though they're being
17:08
Speaker 3: abused in a different form. In the cases of filicide
17:12
Speaker 3: I've covered, the single-digit ages after infancy seem to be
17:16
Speaker 3: a dangerous time in the life of an abused child.
17:20
Speaker 3: Then there was the fact that Jordan was disabled, so
17:22
Speaker 3: he needed more attention than other children his age, and
17:25
Speaker 3: the abuse compounded. Jacob's statement about the abuse getting really
17:30
Speaker 3: bad at the end of 2015 while he still lived
17:34
Speaker 3: with Larissa is important, because she would go on to
17:37
Speaker 3: tell the authorities that there was no abuse by her
17:39
Speaker 3: ever and that it was only after Christopher Rodriguez moved
17:43
Speaker 3: in that the abuse started happening. Only by him. Jacob
17:48
Speaker 3: moved out in March or April of 2016 after a
17:52
Speaker 3: violent confrontation with Larissa.
17:54
Speaker 2: My mom ended up getting really sick. She was admitted
17:59
Speaker 2: into the emergency room for about two weeks, I want
18:04
Speaker 2: to say it was. She got out, and I go, Marisa,
18:08
Speaker 2: I want to go see my mom. She kept me
18:11
Speaker 2: from my family. I couldn't see any of them. She's
18:14
Speaker 2: a very control freak. She went to walk out. She
18:27
Speaker 2: grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, and I
18:29
Speaker 2: had a glass ashtray, a Harley Davidson one. And she
18:37
Speaker 2: grabbed me by the collar of my shirt because she
18:38
Speaker 2: kept blocking the front door. And she kept telling me,
18:42
Speaker 2: you got to go, you got to go. She was
18:44
Speaker 2: hitting me and hitting me and hitting me. You know,
18:46
Speaker 2: that was nothing new. Michelle even seen me one time
18:50
Speaker 2: with scratches on my face. I lied to her and
18:52
Speaker 2: told her I was a cat.
18:54
Speaker 4: But....
18:58
Speaker 2: She grabbed me by the collar of my shirt when
18:59
Speaker 2: I went for the back door. Because there's the front door.
19:02
Speaker 2: You can walk through the hallway past the stairs and
19:05
Speaker 2: there's the back door. She grabbed me by the neck
19:08
Speaker 2: of my t-shirt.
19:10
Speaker 1: Bam.
19:12
Speaker 6: Fractured my nose. There was blood everywhere on me.
19:14
Speaker 4: I shoved her.
19:18
Speaker 6: I ran out the back door.
19:20
Speaker 1: And....
19:23
Speaker 2: I went to the rapid station. I went to my
19:25
Speaker 2: sister's house. And that's when I was like, enough is enough.
19:28
Speaker 2: I've got to get a lawyer. I've got to get
19:29
Speaker 2: the kid out. I've got to figure out what I'm
19:32
Speaker 2: going to do about the other children. I even wanted
19:36
Speaker 2: to go for custody for Jordan, but I'm not his
19:38
Speaker 2: biological dad.
19:40
Speaker 6: I talked to several lawyers.
19:42
Speaker 2: They said it's nearly impossible.
19:46
Speaker 6: I called 696 Kids. No one ever really did anything.
19:50
Speaker 4: Anything.
19:50
Speaker 2: It just made the whole situation worse for me.
19:53
Speaker 6: She wouldn't let me see Tatiana.
19:56
Speaker 3: Larissa had already been seeing a new man who she
19:59
Speaker 3: had met online, and he came over to her house
20:01
Speaker 3: the same day Jacob moved out and he never left.
20:04
Speaker 3: That man was Christopher Rodriguez, and the couple was not married.
20:08
Speaker 3: They just happened to both have the same last name.
20:12
Speaker 3: It's why I labeled this episode as being about Christopher
20:15
Speaker 3: Rodriguez and Larissa Rodriguez, and not Christopher and Larissa Rodriguez,
20:20
Speaker 3: if that makes sense. Not only had Larissa swapped out
20:23
Speaker 3: boyfriends in a single day, but at that time she
20:26
Speaker 3: was pregnant, but it's not clear who the father of
20:29
Speaker 3: that child is. Mia Rodriguez was born in July of
20:33
Speaker 3: 2016 and it wasn't long before Larissa was pregnant with
20:37
Speaker 3: Christopher Rodriguez's child. Christopher had grown up in the Cleveland
20:42
Speaker 3: area and was known to be abusive to the women
20:45
Speaker 3: in his life. During this investigation, a woman named Crystal
20:49
Speaker 3: Alvarez was interviewed who had been in a relationship with
20:52
Speaker 3: Christopher between 2010 and 2013. She said that Christopher would
20:57
Speaker 3: choke her any time he got upset. She said she
21:01
Speaker 3: stopped him from abusing or even disciplining her children, but
21:04
Speaker 3: she had caught him whipping her son with a belt once.
21:08
Speaker 3: Christopher had one child before he met Larissa, who was
21:11
Speaker 3: 15 by this time. It seemed that his mother had
21:14
Speaker 3: full custody and that Christopher had failed to pay his
21:17
Speaker 3: child support because he was arrested for criminal non-child support
21:20
Speaker 3: on July 19, 2017. He bonded out of jail two
21:25
Speaker 3: days later, but was re-arrested on October 25 and kept
21:27
Speaker 3: in jail. A month prior to Christopher being rearrested, Larissa
21:33
Speaker 3: pulled Jordan out of school and told his teachers that
21:35
Speaker 3: they were moving out of state. That was a lie
21:38
Speaker 3: and it seemed she just wanted to keep the child
21:41
Speaker 3: out of sight. On December 18, 2017, Scott Rodriguez called
21:47
Speaker 3: the Cleveland Emergency Services from where he was living in Pakistan.
21:50
Speaker 1: What he told me was he came home. His girlfriend
21:56
Speaker 1: called him. He rushed home, and then, like, I think
21:59
Speaker 1: the little boy was, like, four or five. And mind you,
22:01
Speaker 1: I've only seen these kids, like, one time, so I
22:03
Speaker 1: couldn't tell you who they are or what it was about.
22:06
Speaker 1: But he told me that the boy was unresponsive. And
22:12
Speaker 1: I was like, okay. He's like, well, this kid had,
22:14
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of problems. Like, he had, like,
22:16
Speaker 1: one lung and one kidney. And I don't even know
22:18
Speaker 1: if that part is true because I don't know these
22:20
Speaker 1: kids because– He's only been with this girl maybe two years,
22:24
Speaker 1: and I've been, like, overseas the whole time. So I
22:26
Speaker 1: only really met her, like, maybe once or twice in
22:29
Speaker 1: my life. What is your brother's address? That's the thing.
22:33
Speaker 1: I don't know his address. I can give you his name, though.
22:37
Speaker 1: It's Christopher Rodriguez. Do you know his girlfriend's name? Yeah,
22:42
Speaker 1: his girlfriend's name is Larissa Rodriguez. We're not married. She
22:46
Speaker 1: just has last name. And her name is Larissa. I
22:51
Speaker 1: think his name is L-A-R-R-I-S-S-A or L-A-R-I-S-S-A. Now, mind you,
23:00
Speaker 1: right now, he's actually locked up, I think, in Medina
23:03
Speaker 1: County for child support.
23:05
Speaker 3: Scott was the brother of Christopher, and after being discharged
23:08
Speaker 3: from the Air Force, he started working for a government contractor.
23:13
Speaker 3: That work had taken him to Pakistan, where he had
23:15
Speaker 3: spoken to his brother on the phone. Scott explained that
23:19
Speaker 3: he had talked to his brother Christopher on the phone
23:21
Speaker 3: on October 24th or 25th and that Christopher had told
23:24
Speaker 3: him that he had been out of the house when
23:26
Speaker 3: Larissa called him and told him he needed to get
23:29
Speaker 3: home due to an emergency. When he arrived home, Jordan
23:33
Speaker 3: was dead and he claims he didn't know how the
23:35
Speaker 3: boy had died. He said that Larissa did not want
23:38
Speaker 3: him to call 911. Larissa would later tell investigators that
23:43
Speaker 3: she was afraid that authorities would take the rest of
23:45
Speaker 3: her kids away if she reported the death, but it's
23:48
Speaker 3: more likely that she wanted to continue receiving the benefits
23:51
Speaker 3: she got from Jordan's disability. Christopher explained that they had
23:55
Speaker 3: wrapped the boy in plastic and buried him in the backyard.
23:59
Speaker 3: Scott said he tried to convince his brother to call
24:01
Speaker 3: the police, but he wouldn't. He told the authorities that
24:04
Speaker 3: he wasn't sure if what his brother told him was true,
24:07
Speaker 3: but he wasn't able to sleep and wanted them to
24:09
Speaker 3: check it out. Police arrived at Larissa's home on West
24:13
Speaker 3: 80th Street on December 19, 2017 at about 3.30 p.m.
24:17
Speaker 3: How old are you?
24:20
Speaker 4: Four. Okay. Is it a boy? A girl? A little boy.
24:27
Speaker 4: What's the boy's name?
24:28
Speaker 6: Anthony.
24:29
Speaker 4: Okay. See if you can get a name. It's not anything. Well,
24:35
Speaker 4: we got a call wanting us to check on the
24:38
Speaker 4: well-being of the family.
24:50
Speaker 3: The first red flag here is that the officers ask
24:53
Speaker 3: about a four or five-year-old, and she suggests one possible
24:57
Speaker 3: option but makes no mention of Jordan, who would also
25:00
Speaker 3: fit that description. She said she had five children in
25:03
Speaker 3: the home at that time who would have been 12-year-old Mariana,
25:06
Speaker 3: 7-year-old Milton Arroyo Jr., 4-year-old Anthony Cummings Jr., 3-year-old Tatiana Wagner,
25:14
Speaker 3: and 1-year-old Mia Rodriguez.
25:18
Speaker 4: How many kids do you have now?
25:20
Speaker 8: I have nine all together.
25:21
Speaker 5: Okay.
25:22
Speaker 7: But I have some that don't live with me. But
25:25
Speaker 7: these are the ones that do live with me.
25:26
Speaker 5: Okay.
25:29
Speaker 4: Do you have a child with special needs?
25:30
Speaker 9: Yes.
25:31
Speaker 4: Oh, Jordan?
25:32
Speaker 8: Yes, I do.
25:33
Speaker 4: How old is Jordan?
25:34
Speaker 8: Jordan, he is just turned five.
25:37
Speaker 4: Where's Jordan at?
25:38
Speaker 8: He's with his dad.
25:39
Speaker 7: He's going to be visiting for the holiday.
25:42
Speaker 8: He's not here with us right now for the holiday.
25:45
Speaker 4: Where's dad at?
25:46
Speaker 6: In Texas.
25:47
Speaker 7: He's not even here.
25:49
Speaker 4: What's his dad's name, Jordan's dad? Patrick. Do you have
25:55
Speaker 4: a number, Patrick, when you reach that? We need a
25:57
Speaker 4: list of them.
25:58
Speaker 1: A list?
26:06
Speaker 4: Can I get a pen and paper? Sure. Or you
26:08
Speaker 4: could tell me. I'll write it down because it's a
26:11
Speaker 4: lot easier. Okay. First born, all the way down the line.
26:16
Speaker 4: Supposedly Jordan is with Dad in Texas. Yes, he's with Dad.
26:20
Speaker 4: We can call him? Yes.
26:22
Speaker 9: Right now, I don't have the number because he was
26:25
Speaker 9: going to get a new number.
26:27
Speaker 6: But he's got family, so we can talk to them.
26:30
Speaker 3: So you sent your special needs five-year-old to Texas, which
26:33
Speaker 3: is like 1,200 miles or 2,000 kilometers away, and you
26:37
Speaker 3: have no contact details for where he is? Supposedly his
26:41
Speaker 3: father is getting a new number, which feels like something
26:44
Speaker 3: you could do in a single day in 2017. But
26:47
Speaker 3: if not, you don't have the number for someone else
26:49
Speaker 3: who lives there? His father doesn't have a spouse or
26:53
Speaker 3: a girlfriend or a roommate or a family member? He's
26:56
Speaker 3: just an island floating by himself in Texas? But it
26:59
Speaker 3: gets even worse.
27:02
Speaker 4: Tell me something about Patrick. Do you know anything about Patrick?
27:07
Speaker 4: He stays in Texas.
27:08
Speaker 10: I mean, we were together.
27:09
Speaker 8: For about two years.
27:12
Speaker 4: What's his last name? Strong.
27:19
Speaker 7: We wasn't together actually too long.
27:21
Speaker 6: He was just like.
27:22
Speaker 4: An internet thing. Do you know his birthday or anything? No,
27:27
Speaker 4: that I did not.
27:29
Speaker 8: You know, we.
27:30
Speaker 4: What's Jordan's last name? Rodriguez.
27:33
Speaker 7: He took it from me.
27:35
Speaker 3: So you sent your special needs five-year-old to visit their
27:38
Speaker 3: father who you don't have a phone number for and
27:40
Speaker 3: whose last name you can't remember? I think it's safe
27:44
Speaker 3: to say that the officers were pretty suspicious at that point.
27:48
Speaker 9: Man, I.
27:50
Speaker 4: Would really love to get in touch with Jordan. Okay.
27:54
Speaker 6: Is there any.
27:55
Speaker 9: Way I can give you when I find the number?
27:58
Speaker 4: To contact you. I got two. Any of the kids disabled?
28:04
Speaker 10: He's not really disabled, but that's the one that's with
28:06
Speaker 10: his dad.
28:06
Speaker 4: None of them? No. Oh, what do you mean? He's
28:11
Speaker 4: just SSI. He can't talk. How old is he?
28:15
Speaker 6: He just turned five.
28:16
Speaker 4: Okay. Where does he live?
28:19
Speaker 7: He doesn't live there, but he's just visiting for the holidays.
28:22
Speaker 4: In Texas?
28:23
Speaker 8: Yeah. Everybody usually lives here?
28:26
Speaker 2: Yeah.
28:26
Speaker 4: Okay.
28:27
Speaker 6: You got family members in Texas?
28:29
Speaker 4: That's why I said, is.
28:30
Speaker 10: There a number or something where I can contact you guys?
28:34
Speaker 4: How long has he been in Texas?
28:35
Speaker 6: You can get it now.
28:36
Speaker 4: It's not a big deal. We'll wait. How long has
28:39
Speaker 4: he been in Texas?
28:40
Speaker 8: He's been only over there for a couple weeks.
28:47
Speaker 10: Because he goes over there to visit and stuff like that.
28:51
Speaker 4: Wait a minute, he goes where to?
28:53
Speaker 1: No, no.
28:55
Speaker 4: He goes... Yeah.
28:57
Speaker 6: I want to say sperm donor.
28:59
Speaker 4: He goes to Texas to visit? Yeah. He goes there,
29:02
Speaker 4: he went there last year, went there this year.
29:05
Speaker 8: Because he just.
29:06
Speaker 7: Goes to visit family out there.
29:08
Speaker 8: But, I mean, other than that, he's here.
29:10
Speaker 4: So, Jordan has family members in Texas?
29:14
Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
29:15
Speaker 4: All right. Do you know any numbers... or how to
29:19
Speaker 4: get in touch with anybody who actually lives in Texas.
29:22
Speaker 10: I mean, right now, his phone just got disconnected.
29:25
Speaker 4: I'm waiting for him to call me.
29:26
Speaker 6: What's his address?
29:29
Speaker 4: I don't know.
29:31
Speaker 8: I mean, no.
29:32
Speaker 10: I mean, I don't know the address personally because me
29:35
Speaker 10: and his dad don't really associate like that.
29:37
Speaker 7: At that point, one.
29:39
Speaker 3: Of the officers stepped outside to meet with backup as
29:43
Speaker 3: they didn't believe Larissa's story. Larissa tried to claim that
29:46
Speaker 3: Jordan's aunt picked him up on December 2nd and took
29:49
Speaker 3: him to visit his father. Eventually, she admitted that the
29:53
Speaker 3: story was a lie and she and Christopher had buried
29:56
Speaker 3: Jordan in the backyard after finding him deceased on September
29:59
Speaker 3: 22nd of that year. Larissa was taken into custody and
30:03
Speaker 3: would eventually be charged with murder. On December 19th, a
30:08
Speaker 3: search warrant was executed at the house and eventually Jordan's
30:11
Speaker 3: body was found buried in the backyard. About 32 inches
30:16
Speaker 3: or 81 centimeters deep, Jordan was wrapped in several garbage bags,
30:21
Speaker 3: a blue blanket, and placed in a suitcase. The medical
30:25
Speaker 3: examiner couldn't determine the cause of death with 100% certainty,
30:29
Speaker 3: but it's believed that the boy starved to death. The
30:32
Speaker 3: ME found a number of broken bones on Jordan's body
30:35
Speaker 3: that had healed on their own without medical treatment. You
30:39
Speaker 3: can tell that based on how the bones heal back together.
30:42
Speaker 3: Social services reported that the house was in deplorable conditions.
30:46
Speaker 3: There were cockroaches, rats, and filth. Back at the police station,
30:52
Speaker 3: Larissa was interrogated and the detectives asked exactly what happened
30:56
Speaker 3: the day Jordan died. She said that on September 21st,
31:00
Speaker 3: she was up in the morning getting the kids ready
31:02
Speaker 3: for school. Jordan collapsed in his bedroom and Christopher brought
31:06
Speaker 3: him into her in a semi-conscious state and she took
31:09
Speaker 3: him to the bathroom and gave him a cold shower
31:12
Speaker 3: to try and revive him. Now, I don't know what
31:15
Speaker 3: she thought that was going to do. If my five-year-old
31:18
Speaker 3: collapsed and was in a state I'd consider semi-conscious, at
31:22
Speaker 3: no point would a cold shower cross my mind. Medical
31:25
Speaker 3: treatment would be the first thing I would try to get.
31:29
Speaker 3: For Larissa, she seemed to think the shower was good
31:31
Speaker 3: enough despite him still being semi-conscious for the following 24 hours.
31:37
Speaker 3: She said she had Jordan sleep in her room with
31:39
Speaker 3: her that night and he died the following day. Again,
31:43
Speaker 3: instead of seeking any outside help, they buried the boy
31:46
Speaker 3: in the backyard and then they told their other kids
31:49
Speaker 3: that Jordan was staying with a friend. When Larissa was
31:53
Speaker 3: accused of starving Jordan and hiding his death to keep
31:55
Speaker 3: receiving his disability benefits, she got angry and stopped talking.
32:01
Speaker 3: It was a few days later after Jordan's body had
32:03
Speaker 3: been autopsied that Larissa was interviewed again. Okay.
32:08
Speaker 8: What I tell you some things have changed is we
32:10
Speaker 8: did talk with the coroner.
32:12
Speaker 2: Okay.
32:12
Speaker 8: And they finished their initial examination. And there are some problems.
32:17
Speaker 11: The problems being Jordan had... an old left wrist fracture.
32:23
Speaker 11: His left wrist was broken. At some point, it was healed.
32:27
Speaker 8: It healed on its own.
32:29
Speaker 1: How?
32:30
Speaker 8: That's something you need to tell us.
32:32
Speaker 11: Jordan also has three fractured left ribs that healed on
32:37
Speaker 11: their own and a fractured right rib that healed on
32:40
Speaker 11: its own. And these are all injuries that were healing
32:45
Speaker 11: on their own without medical help, which means he was
32:48
Speaker 11: in a lot of pain for a very long time.
32:51
Speaker 8: And you're not being honest about what was happening to
32:53
Speaker 8: this kid.
32:55
Speaker 10: See, when what happened, I mean, I personally didn't, but
33:02
Speaker 10: I was scared of myself.
33:04
Speaker 4: Scared of?
33:05
Speaker 10: I think talking to my sisters yesterday actually opened up
33:08
Speaker 10: my eyes a little bit and made me realize I
33:12
Speaker 10: should not be the only one taking full blame for this.
33:17
Speaker 8: I never put my hands on my kids. You can
33:19
Speaker 8: ask any of them.
33:22
Speaker 3: She wasn't taking full blame before this. She always denied
33:26
Speaker 3: that she did nothing wrong outside of burying Jordan and
33:29
Speaker 3: not reporting his death. Now she was trying to shift
33:32
Speaker 3: all the blame to Christopher, who also abused Jordan, but
33:35
Speaker 3: there are too many different witnesses from over the years
33:38
Speaker 3: who would go on to describe Larissa physically abusing her children.
33:42
Speaker 3: Those were people who had different relationships with her and
33:45
Speaker 3: people who weren't connected to each other. They had similar stories,
33:50
Speaker 3: despite some of them not being in a situation where
33:52
Speaker 3: they communicated with each other. Multiple people describe Larissa treating
33:58
Speaker 3: Jordan worse than her other children, from a time before
34:01
Speaker 3: Christopher Rodriguez entered her life. Still, she sits in the
34:06
Speaker 3: interrogation and claims not only did she not ever lay
34:09
Speaker 3: a hand on her children, but she even defended them,
34:12
Speaker 3: causing her own abuse.
34:14
Speaker 9: My kids all can tell you I defended all my kids.
34:19
Speaker 9: And that's where a lot of me and his arguments
34:21
Speaker 9: came in because I did defend my kids. And that's
34:25
Speaker 9: where he would put his hands on me. He even
34:27
Speaker 9: put a sock in my mouth when I.
34:30
Speaker 8: Tried to yell for help.
34:32
Speaker 6: I felt like I was stuck.
34:34
Speaker 9: And every time something like that would happen, he would
34:37
Speaker 9: always bring up and make me feel guilty like I
34:40
Speaker 9: was the one who did that to Jordan.
34:43
Speaker 6: And I didn't hurt Jordan.
34:45
Speaker 3: She put herself in a position where she sacrificed her
34:48
Speaker 3: own safety in order to protect her kids, and that's
34:51
Speaker 3: something that would turn out to be absolutely untrue. She
34:54
Speaker 3: would even go on to say that Christopher wouldn't let
34:57
Speaker 3: her be around her friends and family, despite the fact
34:59
Speaker 3: that her sister Anna, as well as a friend named
35:02
Speaker 3: Karen Custer, lived with them for a while, and she
35:04
Speaker 3: became close enough to a social worker who was supposed
35:07
Speaker 3: to be making regular checkups on the kids that they
35:10
Speaker 3: got into a food stamp fraud situation together. More on
35:14
Speaker 3: that in a little bit. Larissa told investigators that she
35:18
Speaker 3: didn't report Jordan's death because she was afraid of Christopher,
35:21
Speaker 3: but he was in jail for two months before Jordan's
35:24
Speaker 3: body was discovered. She had more than enough time to
35:27
Speaker 3: report the death and get away from Christopher, but she didn't.
35:31
Speaker 3: She actually went to the jail and visited him regularly.
35:35
Speaker 3: And doesn't the claim that someone was keeping the other
35:37
Speaker 3: away from their family sound familiar?
35:41
Speaker 6: She kept me from my family.
35:42
Speaker 2: I couldn't see any of them. She's very control of.
35:49
Speaker 4: Right.
35:50
Speaker 3: She was the one that did that to other people.
35:53
Speaker 3: She was also an abuser, which doesn't take responsibility away
35:57
Speaker 3: from Christopher. They just both happened to be abusers and
36:00
Speaker 3: a child died from it. After Larissa was interrogated, all
36:05
Speaker 3: of the people who had been in her life and
36:06
Speaker 3: especially the ones who had known Jordan were interviewed. Both
36:10
Speaker 3: of her ex-boyfriends, who were also fathers to one of
36:13
Speaker 3: her children, Christopher Upton and Jacob Wagner, explained that she
36:17
Speaker 3: was abusive, and Jacob described her abuse toward Jordan specifically.
36:22
Speaker 3: Her own sisters described the abuse and neglect they had
36:25
Speaker 3: witnessed against Jordan by Larissa.
36:27
Speaker 8: You called the cops because you wanted your property.
36:30
Speaker 5: Yes.
36:31
Speaker 8: And you said you seen the baby do what?
36:33
Speaker 9: The baby had a sock in his mouth standing in
36:35
Speaker 9: the corner, holding rice bags with a sock in his mouth.
36:42
Speaker 8: Holding rice bags in his hand. And he was in
36:46
Speaker 8: a corner?
36:46
Speaker 5: Yep.
36:47
Speaker 4: Which room?
36:48
Speaker 6: Downstairs in the living room.
36:51
Speaker 8: And you told her it was abuse?
36:52
Speaker 4: Yep.
36:54
Speaker 10: Karen Custer is my witness that this boy had a
36:56
Speaker 10: sock in his mouth.
36:57
Speaker 4: Who is?
36:58
Speaker 6: Karen Custer, the one I was calling out yesterday that came.
37:01
Speaker 8: Karen C-U-S-T-A-R-D?
37:03
Speaker 7: Yes.
37:04
Speaker 8: She's seen this also?
37:05
Speaker 6: Yeah, she lived with my sister as well.
37:08
Speaker 5: We all moved out because we didn't like the abuse
37:10
Speaker 5: that was taking place.
37:12
Speaker 6: Every friend that my sister had.
37:14
Speaker 8: Was she with you on that day that this kid
37:16
Speaker 8: had the soccer game on?
37:17
Speaker 5: Yes.
37:19
Speaker 3: Now, Larissa's older sister would tell the detectives that Anna
37:22
Speaker 3: could be dramatic, but investigators interviewed Karen Custer, and she
37:26
Speaker 3: backed up that there had been abuse against Jordan and
37:28
Speaker 3: that she had reported it to DCFS, but they didn't
37:31
Speaker 3: do anything. Patrick Strawn was finally tracked down in an
37:35
Speaker 3: area near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Texas. That's when he told
37:40
Speaker 3: investigators about his brief history with Larissa and the threats
37:44
Speaker 3: that had been made against him to stay out of Cleveland.
37:47
Speaker 3: The police in his local area collected a DNA sample
37:50
Speaker 3: for a paternity test which came back a match. It's
37:54
Speaker 3: unknown how Patrick handled the news that the boy was
37:56
Speaker 3: in fact his son and that he was dead. While
38:00
Speaker 3: Larissa was awaiting judgment, she gave birth to her 10th
38:03
Speaker 3: child and it was immediately placed in the care of
38:05
Speaker 3: the state. Of course, Christopher Rodriguez was interviewed while he
38:09
Speaker 3: was being held in Medina County Jail on his criminal
38:13
Speaker 3: non-child support charges. Medina is one county over from the
38:17
Speaker 3: county Cleveland is in, Cuyahoga County. When the investigator repeated
38:22
Speaker 3: Larissa's story that he had brought a semi-conscious Jordan to
38:25
Speaker 3: her on the morning before his death, he claimed that
38:28
Speaker 3: that was not true. He told the detectives that he
38:31
Speaker 3: had been out picking up his paycheck and when he
38:33
Speaker 3: returned home, Jordan was already dead. When the detective asked
38:38
Speaker 3: him which month Jordan died in, Christopher couldn't answer. So
38:42
Speaker 3: he knew he was picking up his paycheck, but couldn't
38:44
Speaker 3: remember which month it was? Right. He claimed that the
38:50
Speaker 3: abuse was all Larissa and that he couldn't tell them
38:52
Speaker 3: what had happened when he was out of the house. Basically,
38:56
Speaker 3: she blamed all the abuse on him and he blamed
38:58
Speaker 3: all the abuse on her. The truth was that they
39:01
Speaker 3: were both responsible. Jordan likely died of starvation, and that
39:05
Speaker 3: wouldn't go unnoticed by one or the other. His broken
39:09
Speaker 3: bones could have been inflicted by either of them, and
39:11
Speaker 3: the pain he would have been in also wouldn't have
39:14
Speaker 3: gone unnoticed by either of them. Christopher Rodriguez and Larissa
39:19
Speaker 3: Rodriguez each ended up pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault,
39:24
Speaker 3: child endangerment, and gross abuse of a corpse. Well, let's
39:28
Speaker 3: be honest, there's no abuse of a corpse that isn't gross,
39:31
Speaker 3: am I right? Actually, the word gross and gross abuse
39:35
Speaker 3: of a corpse means that it was a quote, extremely
39:38
Speaker 3: or highly offensive violation of social, moral, or community standards
39:42
Speaker 3: regarding the dignity of the dead. You can be charged
39:46
Speaker 3: with just abuse of a corpse, and the gross is
39:49
Speaker 3: normally added when the victim has been dismembered or sexually abused.
39:53
Speaker 3: But in this case, I believe it was added due
39:55
Speaker 3: to the victim being a child and or being disabled.
40:00
Speaker 12: The level of meticulousness that you went through to not
40:05
Speaker 12: be discovered, I honestly don't know how you live with yourself.
40:11
Speaker 12: I don't know how either one of you live with yourself.
40:13
Speaker 12: The court imposes sentences as follows. Count one, involuntary manslaughter,
40:17
Speaker 12: felony of first degree, 11 years in prison. Count two,
40:20
Speaker 12: felony of the second degree, felonious assault, eight years in prison.
40:25
Speaker 12: Count three, felony of the third degree, I'm sorry, felony
40:27
Speaker 12: of the second degree, six years in prison. Count five,
40:31
Speaker 12: abuse of a corpse, felony of fifth degree, nine months
40:34
Speaker 12: in prison. Counts one, two, and three to be served
40:37
Speaker 12: consecutive to each other. and concurrent to the sentence imposed
40:41
Speaker 12: in Count 5 for a total sentence of 25 years.
40:44
Speaker 12: The sentence is to be served concurrent to the sentence
40:48
Speaker 12: previously imposed in 625.508 for a total sentence of 25 years.
40:53
Speaker 7: Your sentence is as follows.
40:54
Speaker 12: Count 1, involuntary manslaughter, 11 years in prison. Count 2,
40:58
Speaker 12: felony of the second degree, felonious assault, 8 years in prison.
41:02
Speaker 12: Count 3, felony of the second degree, 8 years in prison.
41:06
Speaker 12: Count 5, abuse of the corpse. One year in prison
41:09
Speaker 12: all counts to be served consecutive to each other with
41:12
Speaker 12: credit for any time served. That's a total sentence of
41:15
Speaker 12: 28 years. That's the maximum sentence available.
41:19
Speaker 3: Larissa was sentenced to a total of 25 years and
41:22
Speaker 3: Christopher was sentenced to a total of 28 years in prison.
41:26
Speaker 3: But that wasn't the end of legal battles related to
41:28
Speaker 3: this case. Before we reach the exciting conclusion of this episode,
41:35
Speaker 3: I just want to remind you that we're trying to
41:36
Speaker 3: hit a million subscribers this year. So before you go,
41:39
Speaker 3: take a moment to subscribe to the channel. Even better,
41:43
Speaker 3: tell someone else about the channel so they can subscribe too.
41:46
Speaker 3: Then make sure you both turn on notifications so you'll
41:49
Speaker 3: always know when a new episode airs. You can also
41:52
Speaker 3: support the channel by checking out our merch at thisismonsters.com.
41:56
Speaker 3: A link is in the description. Your support is appreciated,
41:59
Speaker 3: and be kind to each other. I had previously mentioned
42:05
Speaker 3: that Larissa had gotten into a food stamp fraud situation
42:08
Speaker 3: with a social worker. That woman was Nancy Caraballo, who
42:12
Speaker 3: worked as a parent educator with an organization called Bright Beginnings.
42:17
Speaker 3: She was contracted out by Catholic Charities, and her job
42:20
Speaker 3: was to make monthly home visits to evaluate Larissa's children
42:24
Speaker 3: and to refer them for education services. Her position made
42:28
Speaker 3: her a mandatory reporter for child abuse and neglect. Larissa
42:33
Speaker 3: got a large sum for her food stamp benefits because
42:35
Speaker 3: she had so many children, and she made a deal
42:38
Speaker 3: with Nancy to sell her any unused food stamps for
42:41
Speaker 3: 50 cents on the dollar. Between July of 2015 and
42:45
Speaker 3: December of 2017, Nancy had used $ 10, 058. 18 worth of food
42:52
Speaker 3: stamps that she had purchased from Larissa at half price.
42:55
Speaker 3: But that wasn't the worst part of the situation. Nancy
42:59
Speaker 3: eventually only stopped by the house each month to pick
43:02
Speaker 3: up the food stamp card. She wasn't checking on the children,
43:06
Speaker 3: and on at least 11 occasions, she falsified her report
43:09
Speaker 3: to say that she'd checked on the children and they
43:11
Speaker 3: were in good condition. One of those false reports was
43:15
Speaker 3: made on November of 2017, months after Jordan had died.
43:20
Speaker 3: She couldn't have seen that Jordan was okay, because he
43:23
Speaker 3: was dead. It's believed that he had died of starvation
43:27
Speaker 3: and she was illegally buying food stamps that were meant
43:30
Speaker 3: to feed him and the other children. Nancy would claim
43:34
Speaker 3: in court that she was brainwashed by Larissa into believing
43:37
Speaker 3: the fraud was helping her, but nobody believed her. They
43:41
Speaker 3: were both convicted and Larissa was sentenced to six years
43:44
Speaker 3: while Nancy was sentenced to three years. That conviction came
43:48
Speaker 3: before the sentence for Jordan's death and the judge ordered
43:51
Speaker 3: the new charges to run concurrent to that sentence. Then,
43:55
Speaker 3: the charity that had contracted to have Nancy check on
43:58
Speaker 3: the children, Catholic Charities, was sued for wrongful death. Larissa's
44:03
Speaker 3: older sister, Michelle, filed the wrongful death suit, believing that,
44:07
Speaker 3: if Nancy Caraballo had been doing her job properly, Jordan
44:10
Speaker 3: would still be alive. The trial took place in March
44:14
Speaker 3: of 2024, and they were asking for $ 81 million in damages.
44:20
Speaker 3: It was determined that Catholic Charities was 8% responsible for
44:23
Speaker 3: the death of Jordan Rodriguez and were responsible to pay $ 960, 000
44:26
Speaker 3: in damages. At the same time, the jury found that
44:32
Speaker 3: Nancy Caraballo was also partially responsible on her own and
44:36
Speaker 3: was ordered to pay $ 240, 000 in damages. By the time
44:41
Speaker 3: of that trial, Nancy had already been released from prison.
44:45
Speaker 3: The jury obviously found that most of the responsibility fell
44:48
Speaker 3: on Larissa Rodriguez and Christopher Rodriguez. Some of the worst
44:53
Speaker 3: cases I cover are of people who kill children, but
44:56
Speaker 3: even worse than that is when those children are killed
44:59
Speaker 3: by their own parents. The people who are supposed to
45:02
Speaker 3: take care of them and love them the most. Jordan
45:05
Speaker 3: Rodriguez wasn't murdered one day in September of 2017. He
45:10
Speaker 3: was slowly abused and starved until he died, and then
45:13
Speaker 3: he was so disregarded by his own mother that he
45:16
Speaker 3: was buried in the backyard like a piece of trash.
45:19
Speaker 3: Hopefully by the time Larissa and Christopher are out of prison,
45:23
Speaker 3: they aren't able to make any more babies, because they're
45:26
Speaker 3: the type of monsters who would go right back to
45:28
Speaker 3: abusing them. Thanks for watching This is Monsters. New episodes
45:34
Speaker 3: are uploaded twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. There
45:38
Speaker 3: are occasional bonus episodes covering unsolved cases and criminal history.
45:42
Speaker 3: If you have a suggestion for a case you think
45:44
Speaker 3: I should cover, leave it in the comments. You can
45:47
Speaker 3: always follow the channel on Instagram at thisis underscore monsters
45:52
Speaker 3: and purchase merch at thisismonsters.com. Thanks so much and be safe.