Body found in backyard where 5-year-old allegedly was buried

CLEVELAND — Investigators on Tuesday found a body buried in the backyard of a home where they had been searching for a 5-year-old boy who had disappeared, officials said.

Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said they are unsure whose body it is, but it is consistent with that of a young child. She said the Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office would identify the body and determine a cause of death through an autopsy.

The findings capped two days of investigation by police and the FBI to try to determine the whereabouts of 5-year-old Jordan Rodriguez, who is developmentally disabled and unable to speak.

FBI and medical examiner’s investigators dug in the backyard for about three hours on Tuesday before finding the body. Investigators swarmed West 80th Street between Detroit and Lake avenues while they investigated on Tuesday.

Jordan’s mother, Larissa Rodriguez, 34, was arrested Monday on suspicion of murder. She has not been charged with a crime. Her boyfriend, Christopher Rodriguez, 36, is in the Medina County Jail serving a six-month sentence for failing to pay child support.

He was transferred from minimum to maximum security on Tuesday.

The investigation was sparked Monday by a phone call from Christopher Rodriguez’s brother, who lives in Pakistan, police reports say.

The brother told police that Christopher Rodriguez called him from jail and told him that Christopher and Larissa buried Jordan in the backyard of the home two months ago after finding him unresponsive, according to police reports.

Larissa Rodriguez told police that her son had gone to Houston to visit his biological father, police reports say.

She told police that the boy’s aunt picked him up on Dec. 2. She was unable to provide contact information for the boy’s biological father or the aunt, police reports say, and had no other information about her son.

Cuyahoga County spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan said the county’s Job and Family Services agency has a long history with Larissa Rodriguez, including removing her two oldest children from her custody several years ago.

Two other children live with their father and four who lived with Larissa Rodriguez before her arrest were taken into emergency custody, Madigan said.

Larissa Rodriguez’s sister, Ana Rodriguez, said she once saw Jordan tied up in a corner with a sock in his mouth. A friend also told her that she saw Jordan “nearly dead” in a closet a few months ago. Ana Rodriguez said she reported both incidents to the county’s child social workers.

“I’m just so hurt and angry,” Ana Rodriguez said after the remains were found. “I don’t know why they would do this to him.”