Murder of Elisa Izquierdo

Elisa Izquierdo (February 11, 1989 – November 22, 1995) was a six-year-old Puerto Rican–Cuban-American girl who died of a brain hemorrhage inflicted by her mother, Awilda Lopez, at the peak of a prolonged and increasing campaign of physical, mental, emotional, and sexual child abuse conducted between 1994 and 1995.

Described by authorities in New York City as the "worst case of child abuse they had ever seen," the life and death of Elisa Izquierdo first made city, then national headlines when it became clear that the city's child welfare system (now the Administration for Children's Services) had missed numerous opportunities to intervene with her family and ultimately save her life.

These failures to protect Elisa subsequently became the inspiration for Elisa's Law, a major restructuring of the New York City Child Welfare System; increasing accountability of all parties involved in child welfare within the city and reducing areas of confidentiality relating to public disclosure in cases of this nature.

Elisa Izquierdo was born on February 11, 1989, in Woodhull Hospital Brooklyn, New York.

Her father, Gustavo, was a Cuban immigrant who had emigrated to America with aspirations to become a dance teacher, whereas her mother, Awilda, was a Puerto Rican raised in Brooklyn.

The pair met at a Fort Greene homeless shelter two years prior to Elisa's birth, where Gustavo worked part-time as a cleaner and caterer.

Awilda herself was a temporary resident at the shelter, having been evicted from the apartment she shared with a previous partner named Ruben Rivera (with whom she had born two children) due to the couple's failure to pay rent—in part caused by her extensive usage of narcotics.

The two began a temporary relationship, although reportedly, this ended when Gustavo discovered Awilda—at the time pregnant with Elisa—was a regular user of crack cocaine.

Concern by her own family as to her extensive usage of drugs resulted in Awilda losing custody of her two eldest children, Rubencino and Kasey, to her own family in January 1989.

When Elisa was born, she was addicted to crack cocaine, requiring social workers to immediately notify the city's child welfare administration services as to her condition.

As a result of her mother's evident addiction, full custody of Elisa was awarded to her father, Gustavo, who despite having no prior parenting experience was, by all accounts, a doting, caring father to Elisa—attending parenting classes, seeking advice from relatives as to how to care for his daughter, organizing celebrations for her first birthdays, and renting a banquet hall to celebrate her baptism at age four.

As one family friend would later relate, "[Elisa] was his life. He would always say she was his princess."

In 1990, Gustavo enrolled his daughter in the Montessori preschool, although shortly thereafter, his incipient ailing health complicated his ability to pay for Elisa's schooling.

In December 1990, having given birth to a daughter named Taisha, she regained custody of her two oldest children.

In November 1991, Awilda Lopez secured the right to obtain unsupervised visitation rights to Elisa: this ruling awarded her custody of the child every second weekend.

Reportedly, Awilda's two oldest children informed relatives that throughout these unsupervised visits, Elisa would be beaten and neglected by her mother and stepfather.

These relatives did not inform authorities of these revelations.

Both Elisa's father and her teachers noted the child bore bruising and other signs of physical mistreatment when she returned from these unsupervised visits.

One of the locations of these injuries was Elisa's genitalia and the child did divulge that her mother had repeatedly hit her and locked her in a closet, adding that she had no desire to see her mother again.

Her father also noted that Elisa had begun bedwetting in addition to losing control of her bowels, and would regularly experience nightmares upon learning she was to be in the custody of her mother for even short periods of time.

Another family acquaintance noted that Elisa would always vomit upon her return from these visits to her mother, and refused to enter bathrooms.

Both Gustavo Izquierdo and Elisa's teachers did inform authorities of the abuse Elisa was enduring at the hands of her mother and stepfather.

These revelations were also disclosed by Elisa herself to a social worker and her father did apply in 1992 to have Awilda Lopez's visitation rights ceased; however, the courts ruled that the visitation rights could continue, albeit with the conditions Awilda must not strike or otherwise harm her daughter.

As Elisa was such an outstanding and promising student and Gustavo such a dedicated father, both teachers and the school principal introduced her to one of the school's patrons, Prince Michael of Greece, in 1993.

Reportedly, upon his arrival at the school, Elisa leaped into Prince Michael's arms, and stayed by his side for the rest of the day.

In 1993, Gustavo Izquierdo formed plans to relocate with Elisa to his native Cuba.

He is known to have purchased airline tickets for himself and his daughter, with the travel date being May 26, 1994.

However, in May, Gustavo was admitted to hospital with acute respiratory complications (subsequently diagnosed as lung cancer).

Gustavo Izquierdo died on May 26; the same date he had planned to travel to Cuba with Elisa.

Shortly thereafter, when Elisa asked her mother where her father was, Awilda simply screamed the words, "Your father's dead!"

Upon hearing news of Gustavo's death, the director of Elisa's school, Phyllis Bryce, contacted a family court judge to express the grave concerns of both herself and numerous members of the school's staff as to the child's safety should her mother gain custody of her.

Upon hearing news of Gustavo's death, Awilda applied for full, permanent custody of Elisa.

She was initially granted temporary custody of the child.

Upon hearing the initial awarding of Elisa's temporary custody to Awilda Lopez, Elsa Canizares—the cousin of Gustavo and Elisa—challenged the ruling and herself applied for custody of Elisa; citing the documented abuse Elisa had previously endured during the unsupervised weekend visits with her mother, and the manner in which Awilda is known to have spoken to the child.

Both the head teacher of the school Elisa still attended and Prince Michael of Greece also wrote personal letters to Judge Phoebe Greenbaum, opposing the initial temporary custody of Elisa awarded to Awilda Lopez upon the death of her father and endorsing Elsa Canizares's application to obtain permanent custody of Elisa.

Elisa's Law was implemented in February 1996.

Elisa has been referred to as a modern-day Cinderella because she had at first been under the protection of a loving father and had befriended Prince Michael of Greece⁠—who had offered to pay for her private tuition until 12th grade—before being placed into the permanent custody of her mother.

He in turn offered to pay for Elisa's private tuition at the independent Brooklyn Friends School until 12th grade; she in turn responded to this gesture with a handwritten note expressing her gratitude.

Occasionally thereafter, Prince Michael of Greece would send Elisa small gifts, to which she would express her thanks by responding with drawings or notes.

The same year Elisa was enrolled in preschool, a social worker signed an affidavit stating that Awilda had successfully beaten her addiction, had secured permanent accommodation within the Rutgers Houses project in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and had married a maintenance worker named Carlos Lopez, with whom she was now expecting her fourth child.