Patricia Ripley, mom accused of drowning autistic son, gets new judge – NBC 6 South Florida

January 4, 2024 Admin

The Miami-Dade mother that confessed to leading her autistic son into a canal and drowning him in 2020 was in court Thursday to get a new judge for her criminal case.

Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez, an Associate Administrative Judge, is now presiding over Patricia Ripley’s case.

Ripley, 48, faces charges including murder in the first degree, kidnapping, child abuse with great bodily harm, attempted murder and several others in the May 2020 killing of 9-year-old son Alejandro, who had autism and was non-verbal.

Police said Ripley had taken her son to a lake behind a housing complex near 103rd Avenue and Kendall Drive and attempted to leave him in the water to drown. Police said video footage confirmed that Ripley pushed her son into the water and left him there by himself.

Patricia Ripley, in her 2020 photo from Miami-Dade Corrections

At the time, witnesses told NBC 6 that they saw a person run into the lake to rescue the young boy after neighbors had screamed for help.

That same evening, police said Ripley succeeded in killing her son at another location, a golf course canal, where his body was discovered by authorities on May 22nd.

According to an arrest report, Ripley recanted her story and admitted she had led the boy into the canal, saying “he’s going to be in a better place.”