Chelsea mother charged in wake of her young son’s death
Prosecutors allege that Jennifer Prudencio left her 3-year-old at home in the care of his siblings, ages 8 and 7, while she drank at a bar. When she returned home the following morning, her son was dead.
CHELSEA — Yael Guardado Prudencio was a 3-year-old boy who bore the marks of a chronic illness. Red and purple patches from hemophilia sometimes bloomed on his forehead, making his medical challenges apparent even to those who had limited contact with him.
A neighbor at his Chelsea apartment building described the child as “so quiet and lovely,” but noted his face sometimes looked bruised — possibly a mark of his hemophilia. He also had a seizure disorder, a prosecutor said.
Yael’s mother, Jennifer Prudencio, 25, dressed him in sports-themed pajamas and took him out in a stroller packed with a bottle of milk, said the neighbor, who asked that she not be named.
In the last week of his life, Yael was ailing, prosecutors said. He had fallen during a recent seizure, leaving a bloody wound on his face that refused to heal, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Audrey Mark said in court earlier this month.
But on April 6, prosecutors allege that Prudencio left him at home in Chelsea in the care of his siblings, ages 8 and 7, while she drank at a bar in Revere and then spent the night at her boyfriend’s home in Somerville. When Prudencio returned home the following morning, Yael was dead.
How he died has not yet been disclosed, and as of Thursday the Chelsea city clerk’s office said it hadn’t received a death certificate for the boy.
Prudencio, who faces charges of manslaughter and reckless endangerment of a child, has pleaded not guilty. Her lawyer Peter Marano called the case a “tragedy.”
A few weeks before he died, Gissela Guardado, Yael’s great aunt, said she hosted the boy at her apartment near Chelsea City Hall. Yael looked happy and playful albeit a little pale, she said.
She said Yael’s father, Elvin Gaurdado, is grief stricken. He has organized a GoFundMe appeal to cover Yael’s funeral expenses.
“I just know that my nephew is
very sad, very ripped up by the loss of his son,” she said in Spanish. “And for us, it hurts a lot, what happened. It was like a pail of cold water fell on us and we didn’t expect it.”
Authorities haven’t said when Yael was diagnosed with hemophilia, a bleeding disorder that affects up to 33,000 people in the United States, according to the National Bleeding Disorders Foundation. It’s a chronic, genetic disease, and patients require regular treatment to prevent bleeding episodes caused by injuries, said Dr. Roshni Kulkarni, director emerita at the Michigan State University Center for Bleeding and Clotting Disorders.
Caregivers for toddlers with hemophilia are encouraged to watch them carefully to try to help them avoid falls, a challenge for young children, said Kulkarni, who wasn’t involved in caring for Yael.
“The home should be a safe place,” she said. “There should be an adult care provider knowledgeable about hemophilia.”
On the last night of his life, Yael vomited and appeared pale,
Mark said during Prudencio’s arraignment earlier this month in Chelsea District Court.
But despite being “aware that something was seriously medically wrong with her child,” Mark said Prudencio left Yael in the care of his older siblings and “drank alcohol for a number of hours.”
During the night, Prudencio’s oldest son texted her about his concerns for Yael’s well-being and included a video of the boy, Mark said.
Prudencio responded that she would be home soon, according to Mark. When she reached her apartment at about 10 a.m. on April 7, Yael was dead.
Residents of the building said they saw Prudencio crying in a common hallway.
“She was screaming,” her neighbor said. She said she didn’t hear anything coming from the family’s apartment overnight and tried to comfort Prudencio.
“I came to her because I was very shocked and heartbroken about the baby. I was crying,” she said. “I hugged her and I said, ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’”
Keda Williams, who also lives on the same floor, said she learned about Yael’s death on the news.
“That was shocking to hear on TV because you would have never known,” said Williams. She said she didn’t know the boy or his family.
Prudencio was arrested April 9 after arriving at the Chelsea Police Department to speak with investigators, court records show.
The state Department of Children and Families has taken custody of Prudencio’s two older children, who have a different father than Yael.
Attorney Matthew Peterson, who represented Prudencio at her arraignment, said he wasn’t aware of prior DCF involvement with the family. A spokesperson said the agency couldn’t comment.
Prudencio has spent about a third of her life as a mother. She didn’t complete high school, Marano said, and was a teenager when she gave birth to her eldest child, a son. She later had two more children, a girl and Yael.
The children’s names are tattooed with a heart on Prudencio’s left forearm.
Yael is Prudencio’s only child with Elvin Guardado, a 26-yearold Chelsea resident, court records show. Last September, Chelsea police charged him with domestic assault and battery after he allegedly shoved Prudencio when she refused to let him inside her apartment, according to a police report filed in court.
The report described Guardado as Prudencio’s ex-boyfriend.
The case was dismissed in March; no reason was given in court records. In an interview, Gaurdado’s parents said their son had separated from Jennifer nearly six months ago and had little contact with his child. Gaurdado wasn’t helping Prudencio to raise Yael, Marano said.
At a hearing on Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court, Judge Christopher Belezos declined Prudencio’s request for a bail reduction as her mother, brother, and other relatives listened in the courtroom gallery. They declined to comment after the hearing.
Dressed in a yellow uniform, Prudencio appeared at the bail hearing through video conference call from the South Bay House of Correction.
When Belezos announced he wouldn’t reduce her bail, Prudencio put her face in hands.