Elisa Izquierdo was a young girl of Puerto Rican and Cuban-American descent, born on February 11, 1989, who tragically passed away on November 22, 1995.
Her death was caused by a brain hemorrhage, which was inflicted by her mother, Awilda Lopez. This horrific act occurred after a long period of escalating physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse that took place between 1994 and 1995.
The Beginning
Elisa Izquierdo was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 11, 1989, at Woodhull Hospital. Her father, Gustavo, was a Cuban immigrant who had come to the United States with dreams of becoming a dance teacher. Elisa’s mother, Awilda, was a Puerto Rican who grew up in Brooklyn. Gustavo and Awilda met at a homeless shelter in Fort Greene two years before Elisa’s birth.
At the time, Gustavo worked part-time as a cleaner and caterer at the shelter where Awilda was temporarily residing. Awilda had been evicted from her previous apartment which she shared with her former partner, and with whom she had two children. Their failure to pay rent, partly due to Awilda’s drug addiction, led to the eviction.
Not long after Awilda and Gustavo started seeing, she got pregnant while still addicted to crack cocaine.
At the time of Elisa’s birth, she was addicted to crack cocaine due to her mother’s drug abuse. This compelled social workers to report her condition to the city’s child welfare administration services immediately. As a consequence of her mother’s addiction, Gustavo was granted full custody of Elisa.
Elisa’s Life With Her Father
Gustavo, who had no prior experience in parenting, took on the responsibility of raising Elisa. Despite this, he was a loving and devoted father to her. He attended parenting classes and sought advice from relatives on how to properly care for his daughter.
Gustavo also organized special celebrations for Elisa’s birthdays, including renting a banquet hall to celebrate her baptism when she turned four. According to a family friend, Elisa was Gustavo’s world and he often referred to her as his princess.
In 1990, Gustavo enrolled Elisa in the Montessori preschool. However, his health soon started to decline, which made it difficult for him to pay for her education. Gustavo’s health continued to decline until he died in May 1994 of lung cancer.
Early Signs of Abuse
It is worth nothing that Awilda was granted visiting rights the same year Elisa was enrolled in preschool. She was allowed to visit her mother every second weekend. Those visits were unsupervised and she always came back with obvious signs of abuse. She would have nightmares when she learned she had to be in her mother’s custody, even for short periods.
Both Gustavo Izquierdo and Elisa’s teachers reported the abuse to the authorities. Elisa also disclosed the abuse to a social worker. In 1992, Gustavo applied to have Awilda Lopez’s visitation rights terminated due to the abuse, but the court allowed visitation to continue under the condition that Awilda sould not harm her daughter physically.
Awilda Gains Custody and Abuses Her Daughter
After learning about Gustavo’s death, the director of Elisa’s school, Phyllis Bryce, contacted a family court judge to express her and the staff’s grave concerns about Elisa’s safety if her mother were to gain custody of her.
Despite the concerns shown by those who truly loved Elisa, the court granted Awilda full custody when she applied for it.
One of the things Awilda did after gaining full custody of her daughter was to withdraw her from school.
On March 14, 1995, an anonymous letter was sent to the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities, stating that Awilda Lopez had cut off a significant amount of Elisa’s hair and had started to lock her in a dark room for extended periods of time. Sadly, no one checked in to see how Elisa was doing.
Some neighbors did report their suspicions of child abuse to child welfare authorities; however, no effective action was taken.
Awilda subjected her daughter Elisa to a range of abuses and indignities, some of which were witnessed by Elisa’s siblings. These included repeated punching and kicking, forcing the child to eat her own feces or drink ammoniated water, using Elisa’s head and face to mop the floor, inflicting burns on her head, face, lips, and body, sexually violating her both vaginally and anally with a hairbrush or toothbrush, hanging her from a shower rod for entertainment, and dropping a chest of drawers on her finger and toe.
Awilda Kills Her Daughter
On the evening of November 22, Awilda called her sister, and reported that Elisa was lying on the bed, with fluid (later determined to be brain fluid) leaking from her nose and mouth. The next morning, Awilda invited a neighbor to see Elisa’s lifeless body. The neighbor was unable to detect any signs of life and urged Awilda to call the police. However, Awilda refused to do so and threatened to commit suicide, prompting the neighbor to call the police and an ambulance.
After being taken into custody, Awilda initially confessed to throwing Elisa head-first into a concrete wall two days before contacting her neighbor. She said that Elisa had stopped talking and walking after the incident. However, a subsequent autopsy revealed numerous injuries, including broken fingers (one bone was protruding through the skin), a broken toe, damage to internal organs, deep welts and burns on her head, face, and body.
The autopsy also found evidence of trauma, including tearing, in her genitalia and rectum. Thirty circular marks on her body were determined to be impressions left by the stone in the ring of the individual who had struck Elisa. Forensic evidence showed that the injuries had been sustained over an extended period.
What Happened After She Was Murdered?
In the following month, Judge Schlesinger sentenced Awilda Lopez to a term of 15 years to life imprisonment. Prior to sentencing, Judge Schlesinger openly criticized the child welfare system in New York, stating that it had failed to protect the young and vulnerable in society.
Although Awilda Lopez became eligible for parole in 2010, she has remained in prison since August 1996.
Elisa Izquierdo’s life and death became the subject of widespread media attention, both in New York City and across the country. Authorities described her case as the worst instance of child abuse they had ever encountered. It became evident that the city’s child welfare system, now known as the Administration for Children’s Services, had missed multiple opportunities to intervene and save Elisa’s life.
These failures led to the creation of Elisa’s Law, which restructured the New York City Child Welfare System, increasing accountability for all involved parties involved in the care of the child. Elisa’s Law was implemented in February 1996.
Credits: Vocal Media