Murder victim. Her case is considered one of the worst cases of child abuse in New York City history.

Elisa Izquierdo was a beautiful 6 year old girl who was murdered by her mother in 1995. Here’s her story: Elisa was born with her mother’s cocaine in her veins. Custody was immediately given to her father, Gustavo Izquierdo. Izquierdo worked as an employee in a homeless shelter. Gustavo loved Elisa and took good care of her. He took parenting classes and every morning before school, he’d get up and put her beautiful hair into pigtails and braids and buns. The two went on outings to the circus, the movies the park. He had tons of pictures of Elisa in his wallet. When Elisa turned 4, Gustavo rented a banquet hall, complete with chandeliers, to celebrate her baptism into the Catholic Church. Her father also enrolled her in a pre-school that the Prince of Greece was associated with. An aide to the Prince had established a connection with the school. Elisa was learning to dance and impressed Prince Michael so much, that he offered to pay for her entire private school education, all the way up to college.

Then Elisa’s mother, Awilda Lopez, regained the legal right to take her on weekend visits. She had convinced the courts that she was off of drugs and had gotten re-married. Both Awilda and her new husband Carlos Lopez would beat on Elisa during those visits. On one of those weekend visits, Carlos Lopez stabbed Awilda 17 times in the neck with a pocket knife and Elisa witnessed it. Elisa would go back to her father’s house and refuse to go into the bathroom. She started to urinate and defecate herself out of fear. Even the staff at her school noticed a change in her after coming back from Awilda’s house.

Elisa’s father, came up with a plan to keep her safe from Awilda. He was planning on sending her away to Cuba. Gustavo Izquierdo died of cancer, ON THE DAY, he was planning on putting Elisa on the plane. The tickets were already purchased. With the death of Gustavo Izquierdo, Elisa’s fate was sealed.

Gustavo’s cousin, Esta Canizares, applied for custody of Elisa, but Brooklyn Family Court Judge, Phoebe Greenbaum, refused to grant Canizares custody. She awarded Awilda custody despite being told by Elisa’s teachers that Elisa was being abused by her mother. Even Prince Michael of Greece sent a letter to the judge asking her not to give Elisa to Awilda. Greenbaum just wouldn’t listen. (After Elisa died, Greenbaum would later say, from her home in Belle Harbor in the Rockaways (Queens County, New York) that Elisa’s death wasn’t her fault)

- Awilda pulled Elisa out of the private school she was attending, that was alreadly payed for all the way up to college and put her in public school!

- Awilda would take all of the kids out in the middle of the night looking for crack. She once tried to sell one of the kid’s tricycle for crack!

- When Elisa started asking where her father was and why he wasn’t coming for her, Awilda screamed at her, “because he’s dead”!

- Awilda would keep Elisa locked up in her room all day.

- Elisa was forced to use a pot for a toilet.

- She was also being starved and was emaciated.

- Awilda wouldn’t let Elisa eat, watch television or play with her brothers and sisters.

- She became convinced that Elisa was possessed by demons. Once on a family trip to Coney Island in Brooklyn, Awilda’s husband, Carlos Lopez, threw Elisa into the ocean, three times, to try and rid her of demons. (though Carlos Lopez confessed to this in a police statement, he was never charged in Brooklyn for this crime!!!)

- Awilda cut off all of Elisa’s beautiful hair.

- She put ammonia into Elisa’s mouth.

- Awilda would call Elisa a “mongoloid” and a “filthy little w.hore”.

- Awilda violated her with a toothbrush.

- She tied her up and violated her with a hairbrush into the r.ectum, claiming she was trying to get snakes out of Elisa’s stomach. She would turn the music up so the neighbors wouldn’t hear her daughter screaming.

- Awilda forced Elisa to eat her own feces.

- She would hold her upside down and mop the floor with the little girl’s head.

Elisa’s screams would often be heard coming from the apartment late at night. “Mommy, mommy, please stop! No more! no more! I’m sorry”!

Awilda Lopez murdered Elisa Izquierdo on November 22nd. 1995 by bashing little Elisa’s head into a concrete wall. She was only 6 years old. Awilda waited two days before she went downstairs to tell a neighbor she thought Elisa was dead. She stayed up in the apartment drinking, hoping Elisa would come back to life. When the neighbor was going to call the police, Awilda tried to throw herself off of the roof of her building. The neighbor grabbed her leg, saving her.

When rescue workers found Elisa’s battered and emaciated body in her bed, she had deep red blotches pocking (indenting) her entire body. It was the stone from someone’s ring. On her right hand side near her kidneys were enormous bruises. There was more bruising on her face and around her temples. Ghastly wounds around her genitals. The bone of her right hand pinky was jutting through the skin. Her tongue was hanging from her mouth. The Assistant District Attorney, Donna Henken, who prosecuted Carlos Lopez for assaulting Elisa on Halloween, said, “Elisa languished unconscious in the apartment until the next day with brain fluid leaking from an ear.”

It was the day before Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving Eve Massacre.

The sort of evil that was inflicted upon Elisa Izquierdo is not even earthly evil. This sort of evil is evil that comes from another dimension.

After Elisa’s death the funeral home awarded Elisa’s body to Awilda! They said that no matter the circumstances, the body goes to the next of kin. Awilda’s sister, Brunilda Rivera now called the shots. Elisa’s father’s family wanted her buried with her father but Awida’s family flat out refused! The two sides stayed away from each other at the funeral. Elisa was buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. Awilda’s family decided to dump her coffin on top of someone else’s who she never knew in life. He died years before she was even born. Even in death they were still punishing little Elisa. They kept her away from her father who loved her so much. But that’s not all the family did. Elisa Izquierdo died in 1995. A headstone was not put placed on the grave until after 2006 – a decade and a half after she died! For over a decade there was no trace that she even existed on this Earth. No stone to mark her name. When they finally got around to placing a headstone, it was a small 7 X 7” stone, more the size of a wall plaque. The ironic part is the community raised money to bury Elisa but the funeral was ultimately donated. Since the funeral was donated why didn’t Awilda’s family use the money to bury Elisa in her own grave? Why did they dump her body on top of a strangers? Why didn’t they purchase a headstone for her? What did they do with the money, did they go shopping with it??? $1000 of the community money was left over. Why didn’t they use it to buy a headstone for her? (11 years later that $1000 went towards burying Nixzmary Brown)

The caseworker on her case, Adriano Navalo was fired but his supervisor, Thomas Gorse, was allowed to retire early WITH A FULL PENSION because the case against him wasn’t strong enough! His pension is a minimum of 62% of his $38,171 salary, plus overtime! Here’s what that translates to: Elisa Izquierdo’s blood money! Both Adriano Navalo and Thomas Gorse were linked to four other children who didn’t die but suffered ongoing abuse due to their incompetance. I’m sure the ACS lawyer, Gary Maitland is very proud of himself for getting Thomas Gorse off the hook. These are the sort of people that ACS attorneys like Gary Maitland want to keep in buisness. So more tradgedies like this can happen. Gary Maitland, incidentally, is also currently trying to get the case workers responsible for Nixzmary Brown’s death their jobs back!!!

After Elisa’s death, a law was enacted in New York State called “Elisa’s Law” in honor of Elisa Izquierdo. Prior to Elisa’s death, when a child died the public was not allowed access to the CPS case worker records. Without the public and the media having access to these records, we can’t see what mistakes were made and who made them. Elisa’s Law loosened the veil of secrecy on CPS records.

In response to Elisa’s death the mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani, created an organization called the Administration For Children’s Services (ACS). This org. would replace the old Dept. of Human Services. It would be an agency that dealt exclusively with children and would report directly to him.

Awilda Lopez was sentenced to 15 years to life. She’s up for parole in a few short months – November 2010!

If you would like to write to the parole board to contest Awilda Lopez being released this year, here’s the address:

Awilda Lopez
96G1200

If you would like to write to the monster herself and tell her how you feel about her, here’s the address:

Awilda Lopez 96G1200
Bedford Hills Correctional Center
247 Harris Road
Bedford Hills, NY 10507

No death threats. Just be creative. Get those creative juices flowing.

Personally, I’d like to see Carlos Lopez prosecuted in Brooklyn for his crime against Elisa there. He CONFESSED in a police statement taken Nov. 22nd. 1995, while he was in jail, that on a family trip to Coney Island, the year before, in Brooklyn, that he threw Elisa into the ocean three times to rid her of demons. He confessed this to Det. James Turnbull. Carlos Lopez was never charged with Elisa’s murder because he was in jail on a parole violation when Awilda killed Elisa. Carlos, who would also abuse Elisa, was present in the home when Awilda was inflicting all of the torture on Elisa and did nothing. Carlos was only charged with assaulting Elisa on Halloween (he bashed her head into a concrete wall) and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. That’s it! I don’t care if the ocean incident happened 15 years ago. Unless there’s some sort of statute of limitations on child abuse, Lopez shoud be prosecuted. You know why? Because ELISA IZQUIERDO MATTERS!!! Prosecuting him would send a message that you can’t just come into Brooklyn on vacation, commit a crime on a child, leave, and think you’re going to get away with it. That no matter how many years pass, you’ll eventually pay for it.

Then there’s judge Phoebe Greenbaum. She was warned that Awilda was abusing Elisa and still handed little Elisa off to that savage. This judge has long since been retired but personally, I don’t care how many years this woman has been retired, I’d like to see her law license revoked! I don’t care if she hasn’t practiced in over a decade, her license needs to be taken away from her! It’s the principal.

Elisa Izquierdo is buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, N.Y. For those of you that can, please visit her.

For more information on Elisa Izquierdo and to view some pics of her, please visit this ONLINE MEMORIAL that I created for her.

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