Missing 12-year-old boy had traumatic brain injury, was subject to abuse, DCFS report alleges

The New Orleans boy at the center of a massive search that ended Tuesday with the discovery of his corpse in the midst of alligators had suffered a traumatic brain injury at the hands of his mother as a baby and was subject to "ongoing" physical abuse, according to a 2021 report from the state Department of Children and Family Services.

While Hilda Vasquez has described 12-year-old Bryan Vasquez as autistic, the 2021 report said his disability was classified in an individualized education plan as "traumatic brain injury (non-accidental)." The report was prompted by a notice from school of bruises to his inner thigh and face.

An earlier police report says Hilda Vasquez injured Bryan, then three months old, in late 2013. He'd been taken to the emergency room with injuries that included a d