A Florida couple accused of claiming their lacking toddler by no means existed has been arrested in North Carolina after a yearlong investigation into the kid’s presumed loss of life.
Leon Alejandro Jr., 21, and Samantha Feliz, 20, each of Hollywood, Florida, have been arrested Wednesday in Rockingham, North Carolina, the place investigators say they fled whereas Hollywood police investigated the disappearance of their toddler.
The pair have been taken into custody by investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Workplace and the US Marshals Service and booked into the Richmond County Jail on fugitive of justice warrants. They’re being held with out bond pending extradition to Florida.
Hollywood police started investigating the case in early 2025 after studying Feliz allegedly gave delivery someday between Dec. 6, 2024, and Jan. 5, 2025, in response to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Authorities mentioned the delivery was hid and occurred someplace apart from a hospital.
Investigators mentioned members of the family noticed the couple with the child in the course of the baby’s first month of life. After that, authorities mentioned, the toddler was by no means seen once more.
In accordance with an arrest warrant obtained by WPLG, investigators imagine the kid, recognized solely by the initials A.F., was final photographed on Jan. 5, 2025. Detectives wrote that the toddler appeared “visibly unwell and malnourished” and confirmed “no indicators of life” in what they described as the ultimate recognized picture.
The warrant additionally alleges investigators searched a number of places with cadaver canines however have been unable to find the kid’s stays, in response to the outlet.
Authorities allege Alejandro and Feliz repeatedly denied the kid existed, telling kinfolk the child “was a prank” and later claiming the being pregnant had been a “hoax” meant to rip-off members of the family out of cash, WPLG reported, citing the arrest warrant.
In accordance with the outlet, investigators mentioned images confirmed Feliz visibly pregnant, whereas textual content messages mentioned the being pregnant and the child.
Detectives additionally reportedly recovered child clothes, a optimistic being pregnant check and what seemed to be blood-stained towels from a storage unit tied to the couple. DNA testing later decided blood recovered from the child clothes and towels belonged to a organic baby of Alejandro and Feliz, in response to the warrant.
Regardless of the shortage of a delivery certificates or medical information, investigators mentioned they developed sufficient proof to cost each suspects with aggravated manslaughter of a kid, tampering with or fabricating bodily proof, failure to report a loss of life to the medical expert, offering false info regarding a lacking baby and making false reviews to legislation enforcement.
Authorities allege the couple fled Florida and have been dwelling on property belonging to one in every of Alejandro’s kinfolk in Richmond County when investigators positioned and arrested them July 22.
Richmond County Sheriff Mark Gulledge praised the multi-agency effort that led to the arrests.
“It is a prime instance of businesses nationwide collaborating to uphold justice,” Gulledge mentioned in a press release.
Authorities haven’t publicly launched extra particulars about what investigators imagine occurred to the toddler.
Fox Information Digital has reached out to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Workplace for any extra updates on the investigation, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.
