Inset: Myra O. Santiago (Volusia County Jail). Background: The apartment complex and retention pond where Santiago’s son drowned (WESH).
A 24-year-old mother in Florida will spend more than a decade behind bars for allowing her 3-year-old son to drown in a retention pond and then trying to convince a neighbor to lie about the events leading up to the boy’s death. Volusia County Circuit Judge Kathryn Weston on Friday ordered Myra O. Santiago to serve 12 years in a state correctional facility for her role in the death of young Aziryh Santiago, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
The sentence was handed down after Santiago agreed to plead no contest to one count of aggravated manslaughter of a child. In addition to her incarceration, Santiago must also serve eight years of probation, during which time she is barred from having unsupervised contact with minors.
Santiago was credited with 600 days of time already served.
Prior to handing down the sentence, Weston addressed Santiago from the bench.
“I know that you are remorseful that this has happened to you,” she told the defendant, according to a report from the Daytona Beach News-Journal. “But it’s quite frankly inexcusable that this could have happened previously and you knew that you needed the child lock and quite simply didn’t go get it. And I know you’ll have regrets probably the rest of your life over not having done that very simple thing.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, police in Ormond Beach said Santiago left Aziryh alone in her apartment for hours, adding that she failed to properly lock the residence despite knowing that he could escape — and he had done so numerous times before.
In court documents, officers said they responded to the San Marcos Apartments in the 1500 block of San Marco Drive at approximately 1:44 p.m. on April 23, 2023, regarding a report of a drowned toddler. A male resident of the apartment complex had security cameras that recorded Aziryh running past his door at approximately 6:46 a.m. and then in the area behind his apartment next to the pond a minute later.
“The video shows [Aziryh] walking around with what appears to be a tablet with a blue case,” police wrote. “[Aziryh] was seen looking around and then ran directly towards the pond when the video ends.”
Santiago claimed she left her son with a female neighbor across from her on the third floor Saturday night at around 10 to 11 p.m., then went to Daytona Beach boardwalk with a friend and walked around, police said.
She claimed she returned home between 1 and 2 a.m., picked up her son from the neighbor, and put the child to bed at her apartment. As he did every day, Aziryh came into her room at 6 a.m. for his tablet, returned to his room and laid down for a while, she told police. But [Santiago] said she woke up at 1:45 p.m. and noticed her son was not in the apartment. She looked for him and contacted an officer after seeing the crime scene tape outside the building.
According to police, a 15-year-old friend of Santiago said he stayed with her frequently and was with her the night before her son’s death. He told deputies a similar story to Santiago’s, but police noticed inconsistencies, including him saying he slept on the couch and Santiago saying he was in the bed with her.
Investigators also noted that there were no child safety locks on the doors of Santiago’s apartment.
“I asked [Santiago] later about this, she advised that [Aziryh] has escaped several times from the apartment and that she has found him on the stairs before,” police wrote. “[Santiago] advised she enquired with the maintenance staff about a child safety lock, and they told her if she purchased the lock they would install it. [Santiago] advised she did not have the funds available to pay for the lock. It should be noted that there was over $100 dollars cash seen laying on [Santiago’s] dresser as well as numerous glass smoking pipes, marijuana, e-cigarettes and several bottles of alcohol in the freezer. There was plenty of evidence to show that [Santiago] had the funds to purchase the lock, but failed to do so.”
The female friend who was allegedly watching the victim also told police she was just an “acquaintance” of Santiago’s and had never watched her son. She claimed Santiago began texting her at about 2:57 p.m. on Sunday about Aziryh’s death.
Such messages included:
- “Can you tell the Police you watched Aziryh last night”
- “Its important girl”
- “I’m going through so much right now”
- “I came and got him from your place ar [sic] 2 or 3”
- “Ill tell you later about everything I’m freaking out”
In a post-Miranda interview with police, Santiago told the same story as before, but when confronted with the text messages she sent the neighbor, she said she was not sure about the neighbor’s story and said the woman was mad at her. The officer asked if she messaged the neighbor at any point on Sunday.
“[Santiago] said why are you asking me things you already know,” police said. “I advised her I wanted the truth. [Santiago] advised that she no longer wished to talk about the incident and wanted to leave. I advised [her] she was not free to leave at this time. [Santiago] asked to make a phone call. [Santiago] called her mother and began telling her that she was going to jail. Her mother asked why and she advised her mother it was because she left [Aziryh] alone in the apartment.”
