Officials delve into case of dead boy

Circumstances of how ‘Little Jacob’ was killed probed

Two women facing charges in the death of a 4-year-old boy whose body washed ashore on a Galveston beach last fall remained in the Galveston County jail on Thursday, as questions remained about how and why Jayden Alexander Lopez was killed.

The boy’s mother, Rebecca Rivera, 34, and 31-year-old Dania Amezquita Gomez, described in court documents as Rivera’s girlfriend, have been arrested on charges of tampering with evidence with the intent to impair a human corpse, authorities said.

The FBI alleges that the pair traveled to Galveston to dump his body in Galveston Bay; the body was found the next day, and police later began referring to him as “Little Jacob” because they didn’t know his identity until a tip led investigators to Rivera.

Rivera admitted to investigators that she abused Jayden in the days leading up to his death,

striking the boy with “whatever I could find,” including clothes hangers, authorities said. He was also described as “malnourished,” weighing about half of the weight of a boy his age.

It is not yet clear if there was a pattern of abuse over the course of the boy’s life. A Department of Family and Protective Services investigator obtained records in July 2016 indicating that Jayden had been admitted to Texas Children’s Hospital with a broken left thigh bone, which was later confirmed by the Galveston County medical examiner.

Rivera was being held Thursday on a $250,000 bond. Bail was set at $100,000 for Gomez, a Mexico national who has an immigration hold.

Christopher Henderson, a Houston attorney who represents Rivera, was assigned to her case on Thursday morning. Reached by phone on Thursday, Henderson said that he hoped to meet with Rivera by the end of the week.

“I’ll sit down with her, we’ll talk about some of the issues with the case but also probably some of the bond issues to see if she has the ability to maybe bond out,” said Henderson, who mostly handles criminal defense and personal injury cases.

Third-degree felony

Rivera has been charged with a third-degree felony, while Gomez faces a misdemeanor. Felony cases go through the grand jury process before any indictment is filed.

At a news conference on Wednesday, FBI investigator Jeff Banks said it was possible that additional charges would be filed against the two suspects as authorities gather more information, including from search warrants and other evidence.

Gomez waived her right to counsel after her magistrate hearing on Tuesday in Galveston County Court, indicating that she will hire an attorney rather than have one assigned by the court.

Henderson said that while he is not representing Gomez, he likely will confer with her counsel about the case.

“Typically if two people are charged in the same transaction, it benefits both myself and the other counsel” to confer as long as it doesn’t conflict with the defense of respective clients, Henderson said.

Gomez, who is from Mexico, also has an immigration hold, but a spokesman for the Galveston County district attorney said her criminal case would take priority before any deportation proceedings.

“She’ll stay in the Galveston County Jail, and once they dispose of her case, she’ll face deportation after that,” said Bill Reed, chief assistant criminal district attorney for Galveston County’s felony division.

Possible July hearings

Court records indicate that Gomez was in custody of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in May, but federal authorities did not have any immediate information as to how or why she was detained.

Rivera’s next appearance before the court will be on July 10, but Henderson said that could change pending possible motions he would file on her behalf. Gomez is scheduled to appear before a magistrate judge again on July 19.

Jayden’s body was in the custody of the medical examiner Thursday.

Rivera’s other son, a 3-year old boy, was placed in foster care after she was taken into custody. Typically, when the Department of Family and Protective Services removes a child from his or her parent’s care, they reach out to the next of kin and any extended family willing to take custody of the child.

The fact that the boy was placed in foster care means that family members were either unable to care for him or that nobody claimed him as family.