Florida mom recants abduction story, charged in canal murder of 9-year-old son

MIAMI (WGHP) -- A mother who initially told police that her son was abducted in Florida admitted during an interrogation that she led him to a canal where the 9-year-old was later found dead, an arrest affidavit says.

Patricia Ripley, 45, initially told Miami-Dade Police that two men sideswiped her car while she was driving with her son, Alejandro Ripley, around 9 p.m. Thursday, officials said. She said the men demanded drugs and abducted her son, who has autism and is nonverbal, authorities said.

Contradicting witness statements and video footage later surfaced, and she admitted to her son's death. Ripley was arrested and charged with with first-degree murder and first-degree premeditated attempted murder, according to the affidavit.

The boy's body was found hours later. Video footage shows Ripley pushing the victim into a canal around 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Nearby residents heard screaming, found Alejandro in the canal and rescued him, said Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. Ripley took Alejandro to a different canal an hour later where the boy drowned, the affidavit said.

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• Mother of 9-year-old boy found dead arrested, accused of murder - WPTV