Left: Polk County (Fla.) Sheriff Grady Judd, speaking at a press conference on May 8, 2024, holds a picture of Patricia Saintizaire, who is accused of killing her adopted 4-year-old son, who she adopted from Haiti. Right: Saintizaire booking photo. (Screengrabs via Polk County Sheriff’s Office/YouTube.)
A woman who investigators said tied up and threw her son — who she adopted from Haiti — into a swimming pool and later allegedly beat the child to death faces murder and other charges.
Patricia Saintizaire, 36, faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and tampering with a witness in the death of her 4-year-old son, whom she adopted and brought to the U.S. in April 2023 when he was 3, according to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office news release.
“What we’ve learned during this investigation just turns our stomach,” said Sheriff Grady Judd in a news conference. “We have a video clip of where that 3-year-old baby’s hands were tied behind his back, and she threw him in a swimming pool in the backyard.”
The events leading up to the death began on May 1 after the boy had come home from school “happy and behaving normally, with no injuries,” authorities said.
An older sibling went to another room for about two hours and did not see or hear what happened to the younger boy before Saintizaire told the teen to bring food to him, authorities said. The teen noticed the little boy couldn’t walk, struggled to sit up, was lethargic and not responding, officials said.
Saintizaire said he was “faking it” and told the teen to give him something to eat. But the boy couldn’t eat and went unconscious, authorities said. The older brother began performing CPR on the child and told Saintizaire they needed to take him to the hospital, officials said. Saintizaire took the boy to a hospital in Davenport, but because of his significant injuries, he was flown to a hospital in Orlando, where he died, officials said.
The sheriff’s office learned about the death on May 2, when hospital staff notified authorities that a 4-year-old child had died under apparent suspicious circumstances, authorities said.
An autopsy showed he had been beaten. He had an injury where his spleen had a significant tear that the medical examiner said could have been nothing other than a hard strike to the abdomen, Judd said. Medical examiners also found layers of bruises and injuries from prior beatings. He had scarring on his back, with old scarring showing, and fresh scars from the time the boy was living in the U.S. between April 2023 and May of this year, authorities said.
His liver had a deep laceration — caused by a targeted blunt force trauma injury, officials said. The bruising to his arms and legs was consistent with ongoing abuse, authorities said. The boy’s cause of death was ruled assault/blunt force trauma, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, authorities said.
Judd said that in addition to the video of him being thrown into the pool, another video showed her beating him in the back as he lay face down on the floor, not even resisting, “just like it’s a normal occurrence.”
Judd said she denied to investigators ever using physical discipline as punishment, authorities said. Her husband told detectives he didn’t discipline the children, but she did.
“She was the disciplinarian,” Judd said.
Initially, the 16-year-old boy denied being abused or witnessing abuse to investigators, but after he was put into child protective custody and Saintizaire was jailed, he admitted to detectives that she told him, “When they ask you something, say nothing so I don’t get in trouble,” authorities said. He also said she threatened to kill him with a gun, officials said.
He was removed from the home and put into the custody of child protective services.
Judd remarked that despite the boy’s abusive treatment, staff at his school said he was happy.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is beyond my wildest imagination how anyone could abuse a beautiful little fellow like this child was abused and neglected,” the sheriff said.
Judd said the boy is in a better place.
“If you search for a positive, it’s that he’s in the arms of God right now, and he’s no longer being beaten,” Judd said. “He’s no longer being punched. He’s no longer being tied up and thrown in the swimming pool.”
Saintizaire is set to be arraigned on June 11, online court records show.
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