Mother gets life sentence in torture, death of ‘Little Jacob’

The mother of the boy known as “Little Jacob,” who was found dead in 2017 with severe injuries on a Galveston beach, has been sentenced to life in prison following a seven-day trial, the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Rebecca Suzanne Rivera, mother of 4-year-old Jayden Alexander Lopez, was convicted on a first-degree felony charge of injury to a child by omission causing serious bodily injury.

The jury took one hour to return with the verdict of a life sentence. She will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years.

The boy’s body showed signs of torture when found on East Beach in October 2017. His injuries included scars from being beaten with hangers, cigarette burns on his back, ligature marks on his wrists and ankles, and multiple blunt force trauma injuries, according to Galveston County medical professionals.

Law enforcement officials referred to him as “Little Jacob” for months because they did not know his identity until a tip led them to Rivera.

“You can’t rehabilitate evil,” Galveston County Chief Assistant District Attorney Matt Shawhan said while addressing the jury before sentencing.

In a pre-trial statement, Rivera admitted that she hit her child with anything she could find when she became frustrated with her girlfriend, Dania Amezquita Gomez. During the trial, which ended Thursday, prosecutors showed evidence that Rivera and Gomez dumped the boy’s body in the water off East Beach after his death.

The body was discovered the following day, also showing signs of severe malnutrition and pneumonia.

The medical examiner could not testify on a specific cause of death for the boy, according to the district attorney’s office.

Gomez also was charged with injury to a child and testified against Rivera as part of her plea deal. Rivera’s other son, a 3-year old boy, was placed in foster care after she was taken into custody.

The FBI and Galveston Police Department led the investigation. Shawhan and Galveston County Assistant District Attorney Dulce Salazar prosecuted the case.

“This defendant earned every day of a life sentence,” Salazar said.