# The Boy Who Was Buried in the Backyard _ Christopher Rodriguez _ Larissa Rodriguez

An episode of [This is monsters](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6825840254), 24 Oct 2026, 46 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75937379/the_boy_who_was_buried_in_the_backyard_christopher_rodriguez_larissa_rodriguez_mp3_128k.mp3



## Transcript

[0:07] Speaker 1: How are you, ma'am? I'm calling from overseas, but I
[0:13] Speaker 1: guess I need to talk to, like, an detective or somebody. Basically,
[0:17] Speaker 1: it's kind of messed up, the whole situation, but my
[0:20] Speaker 1: brother told me something, and I just can't sleep at
[0:24] Speaker 1: night as far as, you know, what it– I don't know.
[0:29] Speaker 1: I just kind of feel like I need to say something.
[0:31] Speaker 1: You need to report something concerning a brother?
[0:33] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[0:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but... No,
[0:38] Speaker 1: what is your kid? Where is he? He lives off
[0:42] Speaker 1: of Detroit, so I don't know his direct address. Basically,
[0:49] Speaker 1: he told me that something happened with one of the kids,
[0:54] Speaker 1: and they didn't call the cops, and basically he buried,
[0:59] Speaker 1: him and his girlfriend buried the kid in the backyard. Now,
[1:03] Speaker 1: mind you, my brother is known to lie a lot,
[1:05] Speaker 1: so I kind of like blew it off, and I
[1:07] Speaker 1: was like, hey.
[1:08] Speaker 3: Man, I hope that ain't true. On December 18, 2017,
[1:13] Speaker 3: a call came into the emergency services system in Cleveland, Ohio.
[1:18] Speaker 3: The caller was living in Pakistan at the time, but
[1:20] Speaker 3: he had been told by his brother a few months
[1:22] Speaker 3: prior that one of the children in his Cleveland home
[1:25] Speaker 3: had died and that he had buried the child in
[1:28] Speaker 3: the backyard. He wasn't sure if he was telling the truth,
[1:32] Speaker 3: but it was eating away at him, and he wanted
[1:34] Speaker 3: the police to do a welfare check so that he
[1:36] Speaker 3: could find out the truth. Unfortunately, the truth would be horrifying.
[1:42] Speaker 4: This is Monsters.
[1:43] Speaker 3: Monsters Larissa Rodriguez was born on September 16th, 1983 in Cleveland, Ohio.
[2:24] Speaker 3: Larisa explained that her father had died when she was
[2:27] Speaker 3: about five and that her mother, Emma Rojas, had surrendered
[2:30] Speaker 3: her to the foster care system. It's reported that Larisa
[2:35] Speaker 3: had like 14 siblings from her mother, but the only
[2:37] Speaker 3: two siblings that come up in this case are an
[2:40] Speaker 3: older sister, Michelle Rodriguez, and a younger sister, Anna Rodriguez.
[2:45] Speaker 3: All three were sent to live with the same foster family,
[2:48] Speaker 3: Carlos and Nora Rodriguez. The home was described as abusive
[2:53] Speaker 3: and it's reported that Larissa was sexually abused. Larissa said
[2:57] Speaker 3: in her interrogation that she was molested when she was
[2:59] Speaker 3: 5 years old by her 18-year-old foster brother. She told
[3:04] Speaker 3: an investigator that her foster family kicked her out when
[3:07] Speaker 3: she was 14 and she went back to live with
[3:10] Speaker 3: her mother. It sounds like that was when she got
[3:13] Speaker 3: pregnant for the first time and it was reported that
[3:15] Speaker 3: her getting pregnant caused her family to not allow her
[3:18] Speaker 3: to come home. Emma did not give her a stable
[3:21] Speaker 3: home as she was out on the streets doing drugs
[3:24] Speaker 3: and making money through sex work. Larissa had her first child,
[3:28] Speaker 3: a son named Angel Bolivar, on November 27, 1998. Not
[3:33] Speaker 3: much is known about that child as he was no
[3:36] Speaker 3: longer living with Larissa at the time of this case.
[3:39] Speaker 3: She told authorities that he was placed in foster care
[3:42] Speaker 3: at some point. It sounds like that was pretty early
[3:45] Speaker 3: on as none of her children's other fathers ever mentioned
[3:47] Speaker 3: him being in the household. When Larisa was 20, she
[3:51] Speaker 3: had her second child and began having another baby every
[3:54] Speaker 3: few years. It seems that they all had different fathers.
[3:59] Speaker 3: Her second oldest was born in 2003 and eventually went
[4:03] Speaker 3: to live with relatives in Puerto Rico. Her first daughter, Mariana,
[4:08] Speaker 3: was born in 2005 and would remain with Larisa. She
[4:12] Speaker 3: would be the first of many of her children who
[4:14] Speaker 3: had the last name Rodriguez and the father is unknown.
[4:19] Speaker 3: On July 22, 2007, Emma Rojas, Larissa and her sister's mother,
[4:24] Speaker 3: was stabbed multiple times by her boyfriend. She managed to
[4:28] Speaker 3: get out of the house and made it down the
[4:30] Speaker 3: street to a Walgreens drugstore where employees called 911. She
[4:35] Speaker 3: ended up succumbing to her wounds and her boyfriend, Juan Mateo,
[4:39] Speaker 3: was arrested and convicted of the murder. When police caught Juan,
[4:43] Speaker 3: he still had blood on his hands and the bloody
[4:45] Speaker 3: knife was found in the bushes down the street. Near
[4:49] Speaker 3: the beginning of 2009, Larissa began dating a man named
[4:53] Speaker 3: Christopher Upton, who she had known growing up. After about
[4:57] Speaker 3: six months, he found out she was cheating on him,
[4:59] Speaker 3: so he broke up with her. He got a call
[5:02] Speaker 3: from Larissa a few months later, where she told him
[5:05] Speaker 3: she was pregnant, and he said he would have no
[5:07] Speaker 3: problem coming to the hospital when she had the baby
[5:10] Speaker 3: and taking a paternity test. If it was positive, they
[5:13] Speaker 3: would go from there. Nevaeh Rodriguez-Upton was born in October
[5:18] Speaker 3: of 2009. And then I didn't get another call.
[5:23] Speaker 5: I got a call the day she was getting released
[5:25] Speaker 5: from the hospital. Didn't get a call when she was,
[5:28] Speaker 5: and I live right by Metro. I could have walked,
[5:30] Speaker 5: you know, went there and been in the delivery room.
[5:33] Speaker 5: I got a call a couple days later, and then
[5:35] Speaker 5: she said that her, the boyfriend Milton at the time,
[5:39] Speaker 5: was going to race Nevaeh.
[5:40] Speaker 6: And I'm like, okay. She goes, but we still need
[5:43] Speaker 6: to go through a DNA test.
[5:44] Speaker 4: And I said, okay.
[5:45] Speaker 5: So we went down, DNA tested her. Um, and then
[5:50] Speaker 5: when I got the results, I tried to see her
[5:52] Speaker 5: and Milton was very abusive to her. Um, she was
[5:56] Speaker 5: always had bruises and everything else. And, and I had
[6:00] Speaker 5: told her, I said, uh, you know, this is my daughter.
[6:02] Speaker 5: I want to see her.
[6:03] Speaker 6: And she kept, she kept blaming Milton saying Milton wouldn't
[6:07] Speaker 6: allow it.
[6:07] Speaker 4: And you know, whatever.
[6:09] Speaker 7: Milton was abusive to Larissa.
[6:11] Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah.
[6:12] Speaker 5: They've, she's bouncing around so much. There was cops called
[6:15] Speaker 5: to almost every, every house that she's been to. Um,
[6:19] Speaker 5: and then one day he was in jail for hitting
[6:22] Speaker 5: her and she called me and she said, Hey, would
[6:25] Speaker 5: you like to meet your daughter?
[6:26] Speaker 4: So I went.
[6:27] Speaker 6: Over there, met Nevaeh and I thought that was going
[6:30] Speaker 6: to be the start of it.
[6:31] Speaker 5: I thought I was going to have a relationship with
[6:32] Speaker 5: Nevaeh and it wasn't until Nevaeh was almost two till.
[6:37] Speaker 6: She finally called me again.
[6:38] Speaker 5: And, uh, she sent pictures and, And a letter to
[6:41] Speaker 5: my mom's house and her and Milton had broken up.
[6:43] Speaker 6: She had had little Milton by then.
[6:46] Speaker 5: And she had said she had moved over in the.
[6:51] Speaker 6: Little projects that they used to have across from Tri-C.
[6:54] Speaker 5: And she said, why don't you come over and, you know,
[6:56] Speaker 5: we can sit down and we can discuss and everything.
[6:59] Speaker 4: And I said, okay.
[6:59] Speaker 6: I said, but I'm in a serious relationship now.
[7:02] Speaker 5: I said, so my girlfriend at the time, who's now
[7:05] Speaker 5: my wife, is going to be part of Nevaeh's life too.
[7:08] Speaker 6: I'm like, so I'm going to bring her. You guys
[7:10] Speaker 6: can meet each other.
[7:13] Speaker 3: At that point, he was in a serious relationship with
[7:15] Speaker 3: a woman who had become his wife, and they had visitation.
[7:19] Speaker 3: They were supposed to have Nevaeh for a few days
[7:21] Speaker 3: at a time here and there, but it got to
[7:23] Speaker 3: the point where the girl was spending 90% of her
[7:26] Speaker 3: time with them. Of course, by that time, Larissa had
[7:30] Speaker 3: given birth to Milton Arroyo Jr. in 2010, so it
[7:34] Speaker 3: seems as though she had already lost interest in Nevaeh.
[7:38] Speaker 3: In April of 2012, Patrick Strawn moved to Cleveland and
[7:42] Speaker 3: he was living with relatives when he met Larissa on
[7:44] Speaker 3: a lesser-known social media site called MocoSpace. He would later
[7:49] Speaker 3: tell investigators that she told him she only had two
[7:52] Speaker 3: children at that time. After a few months, she told
[7:56] Speaker 3: him that she was pregnant and they went to the
[7:58] Speaker 3: doctor to get a confirmation. They were told she was
[8:01] Speaker 3: about 12 weeks pregnant and when he questioned her about
[8:04] Speaker 3: whether he was actually the father, he said Larissa became
[8:08] Speaker 3: angry and punched him in the face. Patrick said that
[8:11] Speaker 3: he bought a bus ticket that day and left Cleveland.
[8:15] Speaker 3: He said he got multiple messages on social media with
[8:18] Speaker 3: threats of violence if he ever came back. He cut
[8:21] Speaker 3: off communications and didn't have any future contact with Larissa.
[8:26] Speaker 3: While this case was being investigated, a paternity test was
[8:29] Speaker 3: conducted and it confirmed that Patrick was the father. Jordan
[8:34] Speaker 3: Rodriguez was born on November 11, 2012. Jordan was born
[8:40] Speaker 3: premature at 26 weeks, which is extremely premature but still
[8:44] Speaker 3: in the viable range. Because of the premature birth, Jordan
[8:48] Speaker 3: suffered from a number of health problems. He only had
[8:52] Speaker 3: one kidney and the rest of his organs were underdeveloped.
[8:55] Speaker 3: He also had developmental delays mentally and would remain non-verbal.
[9:00] Speaker 3: In 2013, Larissa gave birth to another son, Anthony Cummings Jr.,
[9:05] Speaker 3: who would continue to live with her. By 2014, Nevaeh
[9:10] Speaker 3: had been living primarily with Christopher Upton, visiting Larissa on occasion.
[9:16] Speaker 3: One day, when Nevaeh was about four, she told her
[9:19] Speaker 3: father that one of the other children in Larissa's home
[9:22] Speaker 3: had molested her. Those allegations were never substantiated, but it
[9:26] Speaker 3: did trigger Christopher to file for full custody of his daughter.
[9:31] Speaker 3: He was eventually awarded full custody, and Larissa was given visitation.
[9:35] Speaker 3: He explained that, when Nevaeh came to live with him,
[9:38] Speaker 3: she was only in the 52nd percentile for physical development
[9:42] Speaker 3: and described her as, quote, a little bag of bones.
[9:46] Speaker 3: She soon gained weight and became a straight-A student at school.
[9:51] Speaker 3: He said that when Nevaeh was still visiting Larissa, she
[9:54] Speaker 3: had come home and told him that she'd changed diapers
[9:56] Speaker 3: and fed some of the young children. He said that
[9:59] Speaker 3: Larissa oldest daughter, Mariana, did most of the care for
[10:02] Speaker 3: the children, and it seemed like he was unhappy that
[10:05] Speaker 3: Nevaeh was being made another caretaker. Eventually, Larissa just stopped
[10:11] Speaker 3: showing up to pick Nevaeh up for her visitations.
[10:14] Speaker 6: I think it was July of, uh, 15th? Is this
[10:20] Speaker 6: the last time she's seen him?
[10:28] Speaker 5: She's had no contact whatsoever, no phone calls, no Facebook messages,
[10:34] Speaker 5: nothing with Nevaeh on all of that time.
[10:37] Speaker 6: She practically just stopped showing up to pick her up.
[10:41] Speaker 5: She was supposed to pick her up every other Sunday
[10:43] Speaker 5: for six hours at the CVS on West Boulevard. Never
[10:47] Speaker 5: got a call, never got a text saying, hey, I'm
[10:49] Speaker 5: not going to make it, hey, you know, can we
[10:51] Speaker 5: switch weekends, nothing like that, I showed up for the following,
[10:58] Speaker 5: probably 90 days, three months, three to four months, every Sunday,
[11:03] Speaker 5: so would sit there for a half hour, no show, finally,
[11:07] Speaker 5: and I want to say it was about October, right
[11:09] Speaker 5: before Halloween, I told Nevaeh, I said, I'm not taking
[11:12] Speaker 5: you there anymore, obviously, and Three months, she hasn't showed up.
[11:15] Speaker 6: She's not going to show up. We're wasting our time
[11:17] Speaker 6: to go sit there. I didn't even.
[11:20] Speaker 5: Get her dressed half the time because I knew she
[11:22] Speaker 5: was going to come right back home anyways. So I
[11:26] Speaker 5: brought her back home in her pajamas, and we started
[11:29] Speaker 5: our day from there.
[11:31] Speaker 6: Like I said, no contact, no nothing, just as if
[11:34] Speaker 6: she fell off the face of the earth.
[11:36] Speaker 7: Was that painful for her?
[11:38] Speaker 4: It was.
[11:39] Speaker 5: Nevaeh dealt with the times where she would say, why
[11:42] Speaker 5: doesn't my mom love me?
[11:43] Speaker 4: Why?
[11:45] Speaker 6: Why doesn't she want me?
[11:46] Speaker 4: You know, why, why.
[11:48] Speaker 6: Does she stop coming to get me?
[11:50] Speaker 5: She, to me, she blamed herself, you know, and Nevaeh
[11:54] Speaker 5: is one of those to where she, she does what.
[12:00] Speaker 6: She thinks is going to get your approval. She doesn't
[12:03] Speaker 6: like needs approval.
[12:04] Speaker 4: Exactly.
[12:05] Speaker 5: She, she's one of those where even now she kind
[12:08] Speaker 5: of knows what's going on. Um, I think she sometimes
[12:12] Speaker 5: tells me what I want to hear. Instead of really
[12:14] Speaker 5: showing her emotions or anything like that, that was part
[12:19] Speaker 5: of the reason why I got her in counseling, because
[12:20] Speaker 5: I thought the counseling would help her to where she
[12:23] Speaker 5: can discuss to them how she feels without the burden of,
[12:28] Speaker 5: is she going to disappoint me?
[12:29] Speaker 6: Is she going to disappoint Larissa?
[12:33] Speaker 3: At the end of 2013 or beginning of 2014, Larissa
[12:37] Speaker 3: began dating a man named Jacob Wagner, who had lived
[12:40] Speaker 3: across the street from where she lived at the time.
[12:43] Speaker 3: Jacob would tell investigators that Larissa was still with Anthony
[12:47] Speaker 3: Cummings Sr. at the time, and once they broke up,
[12:49] Speaker 3: he moved in with her. Of course, she got pregnant
[12:53] Speaker 3: and had a daughter, Tatiana Wagner, in October of 2014.
[12:58] Speaker 3: Jacob was interviewed by investigators in 2017, and he was
[13:02] Speaker 3: very forthcoming with how things were in the home.
[13:06] Speaker 7: During this period of time, how was she treating Jordan?
[13:10] Speaker 2: She was treating him good. Really good, actually. Jordan was
[13:14] Speaker 2: always with her nonstop. Around this time, he started eating
[13:17] Speaker 2: baby food. She was feeding him on time, changing his diapers,
[13:23] Speaker 2: trying to teach him how to crawl.
[13:28] Speaker 7: So during the time that you live with her, she
[13:30] Speaker 7: treats Jordan appropriately?
[13:32] Speaker 6: Yeah.
[13:34] Speaker 7: When do you leave?
[13:37] Speaker 4: For good?
[13:37] Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.
[13:40] Speaker 4: It was maybe like.
[13:46] Speaker 2: About March 2016. Um, but towards the, towards the, um,
[13:54] Speaker 2: a little towards the end, she started getting really bad
[13:56] Speaker 2: with Jordan.
[13:58] Speaker 7: Um, in what way?
[14:00] Speaker 6: Every way, every way.
[14:02] Speaker 7: Um, so, so the beginning of.
[14:04] Speaker 2: 2016, she's no, um, Probably around the end of 15,
[14:13] Speaker 2: it got really bad.
[14:15] Speaker 6: And he's three?
[14:17] Speaker 4: Yes.
[14:18] Speaker 7: He just turned three?
[14:19] Speaker 4: Yes.
[14:20] Speaker 7: When you say she becomes really bad with him, what.
[14:24] Speaker 4: Do you mean?
[14:24] Speaker 2: We moved into 98th, and she just got so bad.
[14:30] Speaker 6: The house was always dirty.
[14:33] Speaker 2: I did my best. I got real close to Jordan
[14:36] Speaker 2: and Avea because... You know, for some reason, those two
[14:41] Speaker 2: connected the best with me. You know, and I felt
[14:46] Speaker 2: so bad for those two. I had to stop her
[14:48] Speaker 2: several times for hitting Jordan. Several times. I told her, stop, stop.
[14:53] Speaker 2: There was a point she pulled a knife out on
[14:55] Speaker 2: me due to it. Nevaeh, I was happy in a
[15:02] Speaker 2: way to see Nevaeh go. I was sad because I
[15:04] Speaker 2: felt like I was losing my best friend, you know.
[15:08] Speaker 2: But The poor little girl, you know, she was always just,
[15:12] Speaker 2: she would sit there and tell her bad things about
[15:14] Speaker 2: her dad. You know, she, she was probably five or five, five, six.
[15:22] Speaker 2: If I was, she, she would just tell him bad
[15:24] Speaker 2: things about her dad. Um, once, once we got out
[15:29] Speaker 2: of there, we moved into a 80th and Detroit. That's
[15:32] Speaker 2: where all this happened at.
[15:36] Speaker 6: I was handing out in and out, in and out,
[15:38] Speaker 6: living out.
[15:38] Speaker 1: Of my car.
[15:40] Speaker 2: Um, I remember one time I walked, I walked in
[15:44] Speaker 2: cause me and her sorted things out over the phone.
[15:46] Speaker 2: You know, I went to store, picked up some food
[15:48] Speaker 2: for him. I walked in and she was trying to
[15:52] Speaker 2: potty train Jordan and she, she was calling him a retard.
[15:58] Speaker 4: Uh, what else?
[16:00] Speaker 2: She made fun of the size of his head. He
[16:02] Speaker 2: had a lazy eye. She would call him cross-eyed. Uh,
[16:05] Speaker 2: she would tell him she would want to smack him
[16:07] Speaker 2: in the face because he looks like his dad. But
[16:11] Speaker 2: when I walked in that door, she shoved a goddamn
[16:14] Speaker 2: sock in the kid's mouth and shoved him in the
[16:16] Speaker 2: corner because he was crying because she hit him and
[16:18] Speaker 2: put him in the corner.
[16:21] Speaker 3: He described that Larissa was initially really good with Jordan,
[16:24] Speaker 3: but near the end of their relationship, when Jordan was
[16:27] Speaker 3: about three, she was becoming increasingly abusive. I've covered a
[16:32] Speaker 3: lot of cases of filicide, where a parent kills their child,
[16:35] Speaker 3: and it's quite common for a child to be treated
[16:37] Speaker 3: well while it's still a baby, but become abused as
[16:41] Speaker 3: it becomes a toddler. A lot of times, the parent
[16:44] Speaker 3: has gone on to have another child, so they have
[16:46] Speaker 3: another baby to focus on, and the older child becomes
[16:49] Speaker 3: a source of frustration. Potty training, feeding, and dealing with
[16:54] Speaker 3: tantrums become sources of resentment, especially when they're still too
[16:58] Speaker 3: young to take up household chores. Once a child is
[17:01] Speaker 3: old enough to take care of other children or do
[17:04] Speaker 3: household chores, they might experience some relief, though they're being
[17:08] Speaker 3: abused in a different form. In the cases of filicide
[17:12] Speaker 3: I've covered, the single-digit ages after infancy seem to be
[17:16] Speaker 3: a dangerous time in the life of an abused child.
[17:20] Speaker 3: Then there was the fact that Jordan was disabled, so
[17:22] Speaker 3: he needed more attention than other children his age, and
[17:25] Speaker 3: the abuse compounded. Jacob's statement about the abuse getting really
[17:30] Speaker 3: bad at the end of 2015 while he still lived
[17:34] Speaker 3: with Larissa is important, because she would go on to
[17:37] Speaker 3: tell the authorities that there was no abuse by her
[17:39] Speaker 3: ever and that it was only after Christopher Rodriguez moved
[17:43] Speaker 3: in that the abuse started happening. Only by him. Jacob
[17:48] Speaker 3: moved out in March or April of 2016 after a
[17:52] Speaker 3: violent confrontation with Larissa.
[17:54] Speaker 2: My mom ended up getting really sick. She was admitted
[17:59] Speaker 2: into the emergency room for about two weeks, I want
[18:04] Speaker 2: to say it was. She got out, and I go, Marisa,
[18:08] Speaker 2: I want to go see my mom. She kept me
[18:11] Speaker 2: from my family. I couldn't see any of them. She's
[18:14] Speaker 2: a very control freak. She went to walk out. She
[18:27] Speaker 2: grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, and I
[18:29] Speaker 2: had a glass ashtray, a Harley Davidson one. And she
[18:37] Speaker 2: grabbed me by the collar of my shirt because she
[18:38] Speaker 2: kept blocking the front door. And she kept telling me,
[18:42] Speaker 2: you got to go, you got to go. She was
[18:44] Speaker 2: hitting me and hitting me and hitting me. You know,
[18:46] Speaker 2: that was nothing new. Michelle even seen me one time
[18:50] Speaker 2: with scratches on my face. I lied to her and
[18:52] Speaker 2: told her I was a cat.
[18:54] Speaker 4: But....
[18:58] Speaker 2: She grabbed me by the collar of my shirt when
[18:59] Speaker 2: I went for the back door. Because there's the front door.
[19:02] Speaker 2: You can walk through the hallway past the stairs and
[19:05] Speaker 2: there's the back door. She grabbed me by the neck
[19:08] Speaker 2: of my t-shirt.
[19:10] Speaker 1: Bam.
[19:12] Speaker 6: Fractured my nose. There was blood everywhere on me.
[19:14] Speaker 4: I shoved her.
[19:18] Speaker 6: I ran out the back door.
[19:20] Speaker 1: And....
[19:23] Speaker 2: I went to the rapid station. I went to my
[19:25] Speaker 2: sister's house. And that's when I was like, enough is enough.
[19:28] Speaker 2: I've got to get a lawyer. I've got to get
[19:29] Speaker 2: the kid out. I've got to figure out what I'm
[19:32] Speaker 2: going to do about the other children. I even wanted
[19:36] Speaker 2: to go for custody for Jordan, but I'm not his
[19:38] Speaker 2: biological dad.
[19:40] Speaker 6: I talked to several lawyers.
[19:42] Speaker 2: They said it's nearly impossible.
[19:46] Speaker 6: I called 696 Kids. No one ever really did anything.
[19:50] Speaker 4: Anything.
[19:50] Speaker 2: It just made the whole situation worse for me.
[19:53] Speaker 6: She wouldn't let me see Tatiana.
[19:56] Speaker 3: Larissa had already been seeing a new man who she
[19:59] Speaker 3: had met online, and he came over to her house
[20:01] Speaker 3: the same day Jacob moved out and he never left.
[20:04] Speaker 3: That man was Christopher Rodriguez, and the couple was not married.
[20:08] Speaker 3: They just happened to both have the same last name.
[20:12] Speaker 3: It's why I labeled this episode as being about Christopher
[20:15] Speaker 3: Rodriguez and Larissa Rodriguez, and not Christopher and Larissa Rodriguez,
[20:20] Speaker 3: if that makes sense. Not only had Larissa swapped out
[20:23] Speaker 3: boyfriends in a single day, but at that time she
[20:26] Speaker 3: was pregnant, but it's not clear who the father of
[20:29] Speaker 3: that child is. Mia Rodriguez was born in July of
[20:33] Speaker 3: 2016 and it wasn't long before Larissa was pregnant with
[20:37] Speaker 3: Christopher Rodriguez's child. Christopher had grown up in the Cleveland
[20:42] Speaker 3: area and was known to be abusive to the women
[20:45] Speaker 3: in his life. During this investigation, a woman named Crystal
[20:49] Speaker 3: Alvarez was interviewed who had been in a relationship with
[20:52] Speaker 3: Christopher between 2010 and 2013. She said that Christopher would
[20:57] Speaker 3: choke her any time he got upset. She said she
[21:01] Speaker 3: stopped him from abusing or even disciplining her children, but
[21:04] Speaker 3: she had caught him whipping her son with a belt once.
[21:08] Speaker 3: Christopher had one child before he met Larissa, who was
[21:11] Speaker 3: 15 by this time. It seemed that his mother had
[21:14] Speaker 3: full custody and that Christopher had failed to pay his
[21:17] Speaker 3: child support because he was arrested for criminal non-child support
[21:20] Speaker 3: on July 19, 2017. He bonded out of jail two
[21:25] Speaker 3: days later, but was re-arrested on October 25 and kept
[21:27] Speaker 3: in jail. A month prior to Christopher being rearrested, Larissa
[21:33] Speaker 3: pulled Jordan out of school and told his teachers that
[21:35] Speaker 3: they were moving out of state. That was a lie
[21:38] Speaker 3: and it seemed she just wanted to keep the child
[21:41] Speaker 3: out of sight. On December 18, 2017, Scott Rodriguez called
[21:47] Speaker 3: the Cleveland Emergency Services from where he was living in Pakistan.
[21:50] Speaker 1: What he told me was he came home. His girlfriend
[21:56] Speaker 1: called him. He rushed home, and then, like, I think
[21:59] Speaker 1: the little boy was, like, four or five. And mind you,
[22:01] Speaker 1: I've only seen these kids, like, one time, so I
[22:03] Speaker 1: couldn't tell you who they are or what it was about.
[22:06] Speaker 1: But he told me that the boy was unresponsive. And
[22:12] Speaker 1: I was like, okay. He's like, well, this kid had,
[22:14] Speaker 1: you know, a lot of problems. Like, he had, like,
[22:16] Speaker 1: one lung and one kidney. And I don't even know
[22:18] Speaker 1: if that part is true because I don't know these
[22:20] Speaker 1: kids because– He's only been with this girl maybe two years,
[22:24] Speaker 1: and I've been, like, overseas the whole time. So I
[22:26] Speaker 1: only really met her, like, maybe once or twice in
[22:29] Speaker 1: my life. What is your brother's address? That's the thing.
[22:33] Speaker 1: I don't know his address. I can give you his name, though.
[22:37] Speaker 1: It's Christopher Rodriguez. Do you know his girlfriend's name? Yeah,
[22:42] Speaker 1: his girlfriend's name is Larissa Rodriguez. We're not married. She
[22:46] Speaker 1: just has last name. And her name is Larissa. I
[22:51] Speaker 1: think his name is L-A-R-R-I-S-S-A or L-A-R-I-S-S-A. Now, mind you,
[23:00] Speaker 1: right now, he's actually locked up, I think, in Medina
[23:03] Speaker 1: County for child support.
[23:05] Speaker 3: Scott was the brother of Christopher, and after being discharged
[23:08] Speaker 3: from the Air Force, he started working for a government contractor.
[23:13] Speaker 3: That work had taken him to Pakistan, where he had
[23:15] Speaker 3: spoken to his brother on the phone. Scott explained that
[23:19] Speaker 3: he had talked to his brother Christopher on the phone
[23:21] Speaker 3: on October 24th or 25th and that Christopher had told
[23:24] Speaker 3: him that he had been out of the house when
[23:26] Speaker 3: Larissa called him and told him he needed to get
[23:29] Speaker 3: home due to an emergency. When he arrived home, Jordan
[23:33] Speaker 3: was dead and he claims he didn't know how the
[23:35] Speaker 3: boy had died. He said that Larissa did not want
[23:38] Speaker 3: him to call 911. Larissa would later tell investigators that
[23:43] Speaker 3: she was afraid that authorities would take the rest of
[23:45] Speaker 3: her kids away if she reported the death, but it's
[23:48] Speaker 3: more likely that she wanted to continue receiving the benefits
[23:51] Speaker 3: she got from Jordan's disability. Christopher explained that they had
[23:55] Speaker 3: wrapped the boy in plastic and buried him in the backyard.
[23:59] Speaker 3: Scott said he tried to convince his brother to call
[24:01] Speaker 3: the police, but he wouldn't. He told the authorities that
[24:04] Speaker 3: he wasn't sure if what his brother told him was true,
[24:07] Speaker 3: but he wasn't able to sleep and wanted them to
[24:09] Speaker 3: check it out. Police arrived at Larissa's home on West
[24:13] Speaker 3: 80th Street on December 19, 2017 at about 3.30 p.m.
[24:17] Speaker 3: How old are you?
[24:20] Speaker 4: Four. Okay. Is it a boy? A girl? A little boy.
[24:27] Speaker 4: What's the boy's name?
[24:28] Speaker 6: Anthony.
[24:29] Speaker 4: Okay. See if you can get a name. It's not anything. Well,
[24:35] Speaker 4: we got a call wanting us to check on the
[24:38] Speaker 4: well-being of the family.
[24:50] Speaker 3: The first red flag here is that the officers ask
[24:53] Speaker 3: about a four or five-year-old, and she suggests one possible
[24:57] Speaker 3: option but makes no mention of Jordan, who would also
[25:00] Speaker 3: fit that description. She said she had five children in
[25:03] Speaker 3: the home at that time who would have been 12-year-old Mariana,
[25:06] Speaker 3: 7-year-old Milton Arroyo Jr., 4-year-old Anthony Cummings Jr., 3-year-old Tatiana Wagner,
[25:14] Speaker 3: and 1-year-old Mia Rodriguez.
[25:18] Speaker 4: How many kids do you have now?
[25:20] Speaker 8: I have nine all together.
[25:21] Speaker 5: Okay.
[25:22] Speaker 7: But I have some that don't live with me. But
[25:25] Speaker 7: these are the ones that do live with me.
[25:26] Speaker 5: Okay.
[25:29] Speaker 4: Do you have a child with special needs?
[25:30] Speaker 9: Yes.
[25:31] Speaker 4: Oh, Jordan?
[25:32] Speaker 8: Yes, I do.
[25:33] Speaker 4: How old is Jordan?
[25:34] Speaker 8: Jordan, he is just turned five.
[25:37] Speaker 4: Where's Jordan at?
[25:38] Speaker 8: He's with his dad.
[25:39] Speaker 7: He's going to be visiting for the holiday.
[25:42] Speaker 8: He's not here with us right now for the holiday.
[25:45] Speaker 4: Where's dad at?
[25:46] Speaker 6: In Texas.
[25:47] Speaker 7: He's not even here.
[25:49] Speaker 4: What's his dad's name, Jordan's dad? Patrick. Do you have
[25:55] Speaker 4: a number, Patrick, when you reach that? We need a
[25:57] Speaker 4: list of them.
[25:58] Speaker 1: A list?
[26:06] Speaker 4: Can I get a pen and paper? Sure. Or you
[26:08] Speaker 4: could tell me. I'll write it down because it's a
[26:11] Speaker 4: lot easier. Okay. First born, all the way down the line.
[26:16] Speaker 4: Supposedly Jordan is with Dad in Texas. Yes, he's with Dad.
[26:20] Speaker 4: We can call him? Yes.
[26:22] Speaker 9: Right now, I don't have the number because he was
[26:25] Speaker 9: going to get a new number.
[26:27] Speaker 6: But he's got family, so we can talk to them.
[26:30] Speaker 3: So you sent your special needs five-year-old to Texas, which
[26:33] Speaker 3: is like 1,200 miles or 2,000 kilometers away, and you
[26:37] Speaker 3: have no contact details for where he is? Supposedly his
[26:41] Speaker 3: father is getting a new number, which feels like something
[26:44] Speaker 3: you could do in a single day in 2017. But
[26:47] Speaker 3: if not, you don't have the number for someone else
[26:49] Speaker 3: who lives there? His father doesn't have a spouse or
[26:53] Speaker 3: a girlfriend or a roommate or a family member? He's
[26:56] Speaker 3: just an island floating by himself in Texas? But it
[26:59] Speaker 3: gets even worse.
[27:02] Speaker 4: Tell me something about Patrick. Do you know anything about Patrick?
[27:07] Speaker 4: He stays in Texas.
[27:08] Speaker 10: I mean, we were together.
[27:09] Speaker 8: For about two years.
[27:12] Speaker 4: What's his last name? Strong.
[27:19] Speaker 7: We wasn't together actually too long.
[27:21] Speaker 6: He was just like.
[27:22] Speaker 4: An internet thing. Do you know his birthday or anything? No,
[27:27] Speaker 4: that I did not.
[27:29] Speaker 8: You know, we.
[27:30] Speaker 4: What's Jordan's last name? Rodriguez.
[27:33] Speaker 7: He took it from me.
[27:35] Speaker 3: So you sent your special needs five-year-old to visit their
[27:38] Speaker 3: father who you don't have a phone number for and
[27:40] Speaker 3: whose last name you can't remember? I think it's safe
[27:44] Speaker 3: to say that the officers were pretty suspicious at that point.
[27:48] Speaker 9: Man, I.
[27:50] Speaker 4: Would really love to get in touch with Jordan. Okay.
[27:54] Speaker 6: Is there any.
[27:55] Speaker 9: Way I can give you when I find the number?
[27:58] Speaker 4: To contact you. I got two. Any of the kids disabled?
[28:04] Speaker 10: He's not really disabled, but that's the one that's with
[28:06] Speaker 10: his dad.
[28:06] Speaker 4: None of them? No. Oh, what do you mean? He's
[28:11] Speaker 4: just SSI. He can't talk. How old is he?
[28:15] Speaker 6: He just turned five.
[28:16] Speaker 4: Okay. Where does he live?
[28:19] Speaker 7: He doesn't live there, but he's just visiting for the holidays.
[28:22] Speaker 4: In Texas?
[28:23] Speaker 8: Yeah. Everybody usually lives here?
[28:26] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[28:26] Speaker 4: Okay.
[28:27] Speaker 6: You got family members in Texas?
[28:29] Speaker 4: That's why I said, is.
[28:30] Speaker 10: There a number or something where I can contact you guys?
[28:34] Speaker 4: How long has he been in Texas?
[28:35] Speaker 6: You can get it now.
[28:36] Speaker 4: It's not a big deal. We'll wait. How long has
[28:39] Speaker 4: he been in Texas?
[28:40] Speaker 8: He's been only over there for a couple weeks.
[28:47] Speaker 10: Because he goes over there to visit and stuff like that.
[28:51] Speaker 4: Wait a minute, he goes where to?
[28:53] Speaker 1: No, no.
[28:55] Speaker 4: He goes... Yeah.
[28:57] Speaker 6: I want to say sperm donor.
[28:59] Speaker 4: He goes to Texas to visit? Yeah. He goes there,
[29:02] Speaker 4: he went there last year, went there this year.
[29:05] Speaker 8: Because he just.
[29:06] Speaker 7: Goes to visit family out there.
[29:08] Speaker 8: But, I mean, other than that, he's here.
[29:10] Speaker 4: So, Jordan has family members in Texas?
[29:14] Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
[29:15] Speaker 4: All right. Do you know any numbers... or how to
[29:19] Speaker 4: get in touch with anybody who actually lives in Texas.
[29:22] Speaker 10: I mean, right now, his phone just got disconnected.
[29:25] Speaker 4: I'm waiting for him to call me.
[29:26] Speaker 6: What's his address?
[29:29] Speaker 4: I don't know.
[29:31] Speaker 8: I mean, no.
[29:32] Speaker 10: I mean, I don't know the address personally because me
[29:35] Speaker 10: and his dad don't really associate like that.
[29:37] Speaker 7: At that point, one.
[29:39] Speaker 3: Of the officers stepped outside to meet with backup as
[29:43] Speaker 3: they didn't believe Larissa's story. Larissa tried to claim that
[29:46] Speaker 3: Jordan's aunt picked him up on December 2nd and took
[29:49] Speaker 3: him to visit his father. Eventually, she admitted that the
[29:53] Speaker 3: story was a lie and she and Christopher had buried
[29:56] Speaker 3: Jordan in the backyard after finding him deceased on September
[29:59] Speaker 3: 22nd of that year. Larissa was taken into custody and
[30:03] Speaker 3: would eventually be charged with murder. On December 19th, a
[30:08] Speaker 3: search warrant was executed at the house and eventually Jordan's
[30:11] Speaker 3: body was found buried in the backyard. About 32 inches
[30:16] Speaker 3: or 81 centimeters deep, Jordan was wrapped in several garbage bags,
[30:21] Speaker 3: a blue blanket, and placed in a suitcase. The medical
[30:25] Speaker 3: examiner couldn't determine the cause of death with 100% certainty,
[30:29] Speaker 3: but it's believed that the boy starved to death. The
[30:32] Speaker 3: ME found a number of broken bones on Jordan's body
[30:35] Speaker 3: that had healed on their own without medical treatment. You
[30:39] Speaker 3: can tell that based on how the bones heal back together.
[30:42] Speaker 3: Social services reported that the house was in deplorable conditions.
[30:46] Speaker 3: There were cockroaches, rats, and filth. Back at the police station,
[30:52] Speaker 3: Larissa was interrogated and the detectives asked exactly what happened
[30:56] Speaker 3: the day Jordan died. She said that on September 21st,
[31:00] Speaker 3: she was up in the morning getting the kids ready
[31:02] Speaker 3: for school. Jordan collapsed in his bedroom and Christopher brought
[31:06] Speaker 3: him into her in a semi-conscious state and she took
[31:09] Speaker 3: him to the bathroom and gave him a cold shower
[31:12] Speaker 3: to try and revive him. Now, I don't know what
[31:15] Speaker 3: she thought that was going to do. If my five-year-old
[31:18] Speaker 3: collapsed and was in a state I'd consider semi-conscious, at
[31:22] Speaker 3: no point would a cold shower cross my mind. Medical
[31:25] Speaker 3: treatment would be the first thing I would try to get.
[31:29] Speaker 3: For Larissa, she seemed to think the shower was good
[31:31] Speaker 3: enough despite him still being semi-conscious for the following 24 hours.
[31:37] Speaker 3: She said she had Jordan sleep in her room with
[31:39] Speaker 3: her that night and he died the following day. Again,
[31:43] Speaker 3: instead of seeking any outside help, they buried the boy
[31:46] Speaker 3: in the backyard and then they told their other kids
[31:49] Speaker 3: that Jordan was staying with a friend. When Larissa was
[31:53] Speaker 3: accused of starving Jordan and hiding his death to keep
[31:55] Speaker 3: receiving his disability benefits, she got angry and stopped talking.
[32:01] Speaker 3: It was a few days later after Jordan's body had
[32:03] Speaker 3: been autopsied that Larissa was interviewed again. Okay.
[32:08] Speaker 8: What I tell you some things have changed is we
[32:10] Speaker 8: did talk with the coroner.
[32:12] Speaker 2: Okay.
[32:12] Speaker 8: And they finished their initial examination. And there are some problems.
[32:17] Speaker 11: The problems being Jordan had... an old left wrist fracture.
[32:23] Speaker 11: His left wrist was broken. At some point, it was healed.
[32:27] Speaker 8: It healed on its own.
[32:29] Speaker 1: How?
[32:30] Speaker 8: That's something you need to tell us.
[32:32] Speaker 11: Jordan also has three fractured left ribs that healed on
[32:37] Speaker 11: their own and a fractured right rib that healed on
[32:40] Speaker 11: its own. And these are all injuries that were healing
[32:45] Speaker 11: on their own without medical help, which means he was
[32:48] Speaker 11: in a lot of pain for a very long time.
[32:51] Speaker 8: And you're not being honest about what was happening to
[32:53] Speaker 8: this kid.
[32:55] Speaker 10: See, when what happened, I mean, I personally didn't, but
[33:02] Speaker 10: I was scared of myself.
[33:04] Speaker 4: Scared of?
[33:05] Speaker 10: I think talking to my sisters yesterday actually opened up
[33:08] Speaker 10: my eyes a little bit and made me realize I
[33:12] Speaker 10: should not be the only one taking full blame for this.
[33:17] Speaker 8: I never put my hands on my kids. You can
[33:19] Speaker 8: ask any of them.
[33:22] Speaker 3: She wasn't taking full blame before this. She always denied
[33:26] Speaker 3: that she did nothing wrong outside of burying Jordan and
[33:29] Speaker 3: not reporting his death. Now she was trying to shift
[33:32] Speaker 3: all the blame to Christopher, who also abused Jordan, but
[33:35] Speaker 3: there are too many different witnesses from over the years
[33:38] Speaker 3: who would go on to describe Larissa physically abusing her children.
[33:42] Speaker 3: Those were people who had different relationships with her and
[33:45] Speaker 3: people who weren't connected to each other. They had similar stories,
[33:50] Speaker 3: despite some of them not being in a situation where
[33:52] Speaker 3: they communicated with each other. Multiple people describe Larissa treating
[33:58] Speaker 3: Jordan worse than her other children, from a time before
[34:01] Speaker 3: Christopher Rodriguez entered her life. Still, she sits in the
[34:06] Speaker 3: interrogation and claims not only did she not ever lay
[34:09] Speaker 3: a hand on her children, but she even defended them,
[34:12] Speaker 3: causing her own abuse.
[34:14] Speaker 9: My kids all can tell you I defended all my kids.
[34:19] Speaker 9: And that's where a lot of me and his arguments
[34:21] Speaker 9: came in because I did defend my kids. And that's
[34:25] Speaker 9: where he would put his hands on me. He even
[34:27] Speaker 9: put a sock in my mouth when I.
[34:30] Speaker 8: Tried to yell for help.
[34:32] Speaker 6: I felt like I was stuck.
[34:34] Speaker 9: And every time something like that would happen, he would
[34:37] Speaker 9: always bring up and make me feel guilty like I
[34:40] Speaker 9: was the one who did that to Jordan.
[34:43] Speaker 6: And I didn't hurt Jordan.
[34:45] Speaker 3: She put herself in a position where she sacrificed her
[34:48] Speaker 3: own safety in order to protect her kids, and that's
[34:51] Speaker 3: something that would turn out to be absolutely untrue. She
[34:54] Speaker 3: would even go on to say that Christopher wouldn't let
[34:57] Speaker 3: her be around her friends and family, despite the fact
[34:59] Speaker 3: that her sister Anna, as well as a friend named
[35:02] Speaker 3: Karen Custer, lived with them for a while, and she
[35:04] Speaker 3: became close enough to a social worker who was supposed
[35:07] Speaker 3: to be making regular checkups on the kids that they
[35:10] Speaker 3: got into a food stamp fraud situation together. More on
[35:14] Speaker 3: that in a little bit. Larissa told investigators that she
[35:18] Speaker 3: didn't report Jordan's death because she was afraid of Christopher,
[35:21] Speaker 3: but he was in jail for two months before Jordan's
[35:24] Speaker 3: body was discovered. She had more than enough time to
[35:27] Speaker 3: report the death and get away from Christopher, but she didn't.
[35:31] Speaker 3: She actually went to the jail and visited him regularly.
[35:35] Speaker 3: And doesn't the claim that someone was keeping the other
[35:37] Speaker 3: away from their family sound familiar?
[35:41] Speaker 6: She kept me from my family.
[35:42] Speaker 2: I couldn't see any of them. She's very control of.
[35:49] Speaker 4: Right.
[35:50] Speaker 3: She was the one that did that to other people.
[35:53] Speaker 3: She was also an abuser, which doesn't take responsibility away
[35:57] Speaker 3: from Christopher. They just both happened to be abusers and
[36:00] Speaker 3: a child died from it. After Larissa was interrogated, all
[36:05] Speaker 3: of the people who had been in her life and
[36:06] Speaker 3: especially the ones who had known Jordan were interviewed. Both
[36:10] Speaker 3: of her ex-boyfriends, who were also fathers to one of
[36:13] Speaker 3: her children, Christopher Upton and Jacob Wagner, explained that she
[36:17] Speaker 3: was abusive, and Jacob described her abuse toward Jordan specifically.
[36:22] Speaker 3: Her own sisters described the abuse and neglect they had
[36:25] Speaker 3: witnessed against Jordan by Larissa.
[36:27] Speaker 8: You called the cops because you wanted your property.
[36:30] Speaker 5: Yes.
[36:31] Speaker 8: And you said you seen the baby do what?
[36:33] Speaker 9: The baby had a sock in his mouth standing in
[36:35] Speaker 9: the corner, holding rice bags with a sock in his mouth.
[36:42] Speaker 8: Holding rice bags in his hand. And he was in
[36:46] Speaker 8: a corner?
[36:46] Speaker 5: Yep.
[36:47] Speaker 4: Which room?
[36:48] Speaker 6: Downstairs in the living room.
[36:51] Speaker 8: And you told her it was abuse?
[36:52] Speaker 4: Yep.
[36:54] Speaker 10: Karen Custer is my witness that this boy had a
[36:56] Speaker 10: sock in his mouth.
[36:57] Speaker 4: Who is?
[36:58] Speaker 6: Karen Custer, the one I was calling out yesterday that came.
[37:01] Speaker 8: Karen C-U-S-T-A-R-D?
[37:03] Speaker 7: Yes.
[37:04] Speaker 8: She's seen this also?
[37:05] Speaker 6: Yeah, she lived with my sister as well.
[37:08] Speaker 5: We all moved out because we didn't like the abuse
[37:10] Speaker 5: that was taking place.
[37:12] Speaker 6: Every friend that my sister had.
[37:14] Speaker 8: Was she with you on that day that this kid
[37:16] Speaker 8: had the soccer game on?
[37:17] Speaker 5: Yes.
[37:19] Speaker 3: Now, Larissa's older sister would tell the detectives that Anna
[37:22] Speaker 3: could be dramatic, but investigators interviewed Karen Custer, and she
[37:26] Speaker 3: backed up that there had been abuse against Jordan and
[37:28] Speaker 3: that she had reported it to DCFS, but they didn't
[37:31] Speaker 3: do anything. Patrick Strawn was finally tracked down in an
[37:35] Speaker 3: area near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not Texas. That's when he told
[37:40] Speaker 3: investigators about his brief history with Larissa and the threats
[37:44] Speaker 3: that had been made against him to stay out of Cleveland.
[37:47] Speaker 3: The police in his local area collected a DNA sample
[37:50] Speaker 3: for a paternity test which came back a match. It's
[37:54] Speaker 3: unknown how Patrick handled the news that the boy was
[37:56] Speaker 3: in fact his son and that he was dead. While
[38:00] Speaker 3: Larissa was awaiting judgment, she gave birth to her 10th
[38:03] Speaker 3: child and it was immediately placed in the care of
[38:05] Speaker 3: the state. Of course, Christopher Rodriguez was interviewed while he
[38:09] Speaker 3: was being held in Medina County Jail on his criminal
[38:13] Speaker 3: non-child support charges. Medina is one county over from the
[38:17] Speaker 3: county Cleveland is in, Cuyahoga County. When the investigator repeated
[38:22] Speaker 3: Larissa's story that he had brought a semi-conscious Jordan to
[38:25] Speaker 3: her on the morning before his death, he claimed that
[38:28] Speaker 3: that was not true. He told the detectives that he
[38:31] Speaker 3: had been out picking up his paycheck and when he
[38:33] Speaker 3: returned home, Jordan was already dead. When the detective asked
[38:38] Speaker 3: him which month Jordan died in, Christopher couldn't answer. So
[38:42] Speaker 3: he knew he was picking up his paycheck, but couldn't
[38:44] Speaker 3: remember which month it was? Right. He claimed that the
[38:50] Speaker 3: abuse was all Larissa and that he couldn't tell them
[38:52] Speaker 3: what had happened when he was out of the house. Basically,
[38:56] Speaker 3: she blamed all the abuse on him and he blamed
[38:58] Speaker 3: all the abuse on her. The truth was that they
[39:01] Speaker 3: were both responsible. Jordan likely died of starvation, and that
[39:05] Speaker 3: wouldn't go unnoticed by one or the other. His broken
[39:09] Speaker 3: bones could have been inflicted by either of them, and
[39:11] Speaker 3: the pain he would have been in also wouldn't have
[39:14] Speaker 3: gone unnoticed by either of them. Christopher Rodriguez and Larissa
[39:19] Speaker 3: Rodriguez each ended up pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault,
[39:24] Speaker 3: child endangerment, and gross abuse of a corpse. Well, let's
[39:28] Speaker 3: be honest, there's no abuse of a corpse that isn't gross,
[39:31] Speaker 3: am I right? Actually, the word gross and gross abuse
[39:35] Speaker 3: of a corpse means that it was a quote, extremely
[39:38] Speaker 3: or highly offensive violation of social, moral, or community standards
[39:42] Speaker 3: regarding the dignity of the dead. You can be charged
[39:46] Speaker 3: with just abuse of a corpse, and the gross is
[39:49] Speaker 3: normally added when the victim has been dismembered or sexually abused.
[39:53] Speaker 3: But in this case, I believe it was added due
[39:55] Speaker 3: to the victim being a child and or being disabled.
[40:00] Speaker 12: The level of meticulousness that you went through to not
[40:05] Speaker 12: be discovered, I honestly don't know how you live with yourself.
[40:11] Speaker 12: I don't know how either one of you live with yourself.
[40:13] Speaker 12: The court imposes sentences as follows. Count one, involuntary manslaughter,
[40:17] Speaker 12: felony of first degree, 11 years in prison. Count two,
[40:20] Speaker 12: felony of the second degree, felonious assault, eight years in prison.
[40:25] Speaker 12: Count three, felony of the third degree, I'm sorry, felony
[40:27] Speaker 12: of the second degree, six years in prison. Count five,
[40:31] Speaker 12: abuse of a corpse, felony of fifth degree, nine months
[40:34] Speaker 12: in prison. Counts one, two, and three to be served
[40:37] Speaker 12: consecutive to each other. and concurrent to the sentence imposed
[40:41] Speaker 12: in Count 5 for a total sentence of 25 years.
[40:44] Speaker 12: The sentence is to be served concurrent to the sentence
[40:48] Speaker 12: previously imposed in 625.508 for a total sentence of 25 years.
[40:53] Speaker 7: Your sentence is as follows.
[40:54] Speaker 12: Count 1, involuntary manslaughter, 11 years in prison. Count 2,
[40:58] Speaker 12: felony of the second degree, felonious assault, 8 years in prison.
[41:02] Speaker 12: Count 3, felony of the second degree, 8 years in prison.
[41:06] Speaker 12: Count 5, abuse of the corpse. One year in prison
[41:09] Speaker 12: all counts to be served consecutive to each other with
[41:12] Speaker 12: credit for any time served. That's a total sentence of
[41:15] Speaker 12: 28 years. That's the maximum sentence available.
[41:19] Speaker 3: Larissa was sentenced to a total of 25 years and
[41:22] Speaker 3: Christopher was sentenced to a total of 28 years in prison.
[41:26] Speaker 3: But that wasn't the end of legal battles related to
[41:28] Speaker 3: this case. Before we reach the exciting conclusion of this episode,
[41:35] Speaker 3: I just want to remind you that we're trying to
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[41:49] Speaker 3: always know when a new episode airs. You can also
[41:52] Speaker 3: support the channel by checking out our merch at thisismonsters.com.
[41:56] Speaker 3: A link is in the description. Your support is appreciated,
[41:59] Speaker 3: and be kind to each other. I had previously mentioned
[42:05] Speaker 3: that Larissa had gotten into a food stamp fraud situation
[42:08] Speaker 3: with a social worker. That woman was Nancy Caraballo, who
[42:12] Speaker 3: worked as a parent educator with an organization called Bright Beginnings.
[42:17] Speaker 3: She was contracted out by Catholic Charities, and her job
[42:20] Speaker 3: was to make monthly home visits to evaluate Larissa's children
[42:24] Speaker 3: and to refer them for education services. Her position made
[42:28] Speaker 3: her a mandatory reporter for child abuse and neglect. Larissa
[42:33] Speaker 3: got a large sum for her food stamp benefits because
[42:35] Speaker 3: she had so many children, and she made a deal
[42:38] Speaker 3: with Nancy to sell her any unused food stamps for
[42:41] Speaker 3: 50 cents on the dollar. Between July of 2015 and
[42:45] Speaker 3: December of 2017, Nancy had used $ 10, 058. 18 worth of food
[42:52] Speaker 3: stamps that she had purchased from Larissa at half price.
[42:55] Speaker 3: But that wasn't the worst part of the situation. Nancy
[42:59] Speaker 3: eventually only stopped by the house each month to pick
[43:02] Speaker 3: up the food stamp card. She wasn't checking on the children,
[43:06] Speaker 3: and on at least 11 occasions, she falsified her report
[43:09] Speaker 3: to say that she'd checked on the children and they
[43:11] Speaker 3: were in good condition. One of those false reports was
[43:15] Speaker 3: made on November of 2017, months after Jordan had died.
[43:20] Speaker 3: She couldn't have seen that Jordan was okay, because he
[43:23] Speaker 3: was dead. It's believed that he had died of starvation
[43:27] Speaker 3: and she was illegally buying food stamps that were meant
[43:30] Speaker 3: to feed him and the other children. Nancy would claim
[43:34] Speaker 3: in court that she was brainwashed by Larissa into believing
[43:37] Speaker 3: the fraud was helping her, but nobody believed her. They
[43:41] Speaker 3: were both convicted and Larissa was sentenced to six years
[43:44] Speaker 3: while Nancy was sentenced to three years. That conviction came
[43:48] Speaker 3: before the sentence for Jordan's death and the judge ordered
[43:51] Speaker 3: the new charges to run concurrent to that sentence. Then,
[43:55] Speaker 3: the charity that had contracted to have Nancy check on
[43:58] Speaker 3: the children, Catholic Charities, was sued for wrongful death. Larissa's
[44:03] Speaker 3: older sister, Michelle, filed the wrongful death suit, believing that,
[44:07] Speaker 3: if Nancy Caraballo had been doing her job properly, Jordan
[44:10] Speaker 3: would still be alive. The trial took place in March
[44:14] Speaker 3: of 2024, and they were asking for $ 81 million in damages.
[44:20] Speaker 3: It was determined that Catholic Charities was 8% responsible for
[44:23] Speaker 3: the death of Jordan Rodriguez and were responsible to pay $ 960, 000
[44:26] Speaker 3: in damages. At the same time, the jury found that
[44:32] Speaker 3: Nancy Caraballo was also partially responsible on her own and
[44:36] Speaker 3: was ordered to pay $ 240, 000 in damages. By the time
[44:41] Speaker 3: of that trial, Nancy had already been released from prison.
[44:45] Speaker 3: The jury obviously found that most of the responsibility fell
[44:48] Speaker 3: on Larissa Rodriguez and Christopher Rodriguez. Some of the worst
[44:53] Speaker 3: cases I cover are of people who kill children, but
[44:56] Speaker 3: even worse than that is when those children are killed
[44:59] Speaker 3: by their own parents. The people who are supposed to
[45:02] Speaker 3: take care of them and love them the most. Jordan
[45:05] Speaker 3: Rodriguez wasn't murdered one day in September of 2017. He
[45:10] Speaker 3: was slowly abused and starved until he died, and then
[45:13] Speaker 3: he was so disregarded by his own mother that he
[45:16] Speaker 3: was buried in the backyard like a piece of trash.
[45:19] Speaker 3: Hopefully by the time Larissa and Christopher are out of prison,
[45:23] Speaker 3: they aren't able to make any more babies, because they're
[45:26] Speaker 3: the type of monsters who would go right back to
[45:28] Speaker 3: abusing them. Thanks for watching This is Monsters. New episodes
[45:34] Speaker 3: are uploaded twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. There
[45:38] Speaker 3: are occasional bonus episodes covering unsolved cases and criminal history.
[45:42] Speaker 3: If you have a suggestion for a case you think
[45:44] Speaker 3: I should cover, leave it in the comments. You can
[45:47] Speaker 3: always follow the channel on Instagram at thisis underscore monsters
[45:52] Speaker 3: and purchase merch at thisismonsters.com. Thanks so much and be safe.

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