“Murder Mommy” Couple Throws Son’s Tortured Body Into The Ocean

“Murder Mommy” Couple Throws Son’s Tortured Body Into The Ocean

Jaden Alexander Lopez was born on January 3rd, 2013, in Texas. His mother was Rebecca Suzanne Rivera; the name of his father was not released to the public. He had a younger brother named Axel.

Jaden had dark hair, dark eyes, long eyelashes, a slightly upturned nose, and was four years old at the time of our story, though quite small and very thin for his age. In a picture taken shortly before these events, he wore a blue and white striped shirt, black pants, and Spider-Man shoes. Just three months shy of five years old, he would have been talking and almost ready for kindergarten. He still had his baby teeth, and his mother said he had been to the beach and liked the water. Based on his Spider-Man shoes, it is reasonable to think he might have been a fan of superheroes, but unfortunately, we will never know, as not much has been disclosed about who Jaden was as a person.

The forensic artist who sketched the little boy said he had full lips and beautiful eyelashes; she could picture him smiling, and he reminded her of her own grandson.

On October 20th, 2017, a woman walking along the beach by the seawall in Galveston, Texas, noticed something in the water. From a distance, it looked like a log or maybe a big fish, but she wasn’t really sure what she was looking at. Concerned and likely acting on some sort of intuition, she called the local police.

When officers arrived, they found the body of a child in the water just offshore. It was a boy; he had no clothes on, was about 3 feet tall, very skinny, and possibly 3 to 5 years old. They picked him up gently and brought him to the shore. Police searched the beach and collected dozens of pieces of potential evidence, concluding rather quickly that the parents were likely still alive.

Captain Joshua Sherard of the Galveston Police Department said it was a lucky sighting. The beach wasn’t too far from the Beach Hut Bar music venue, but they were closed for renovation. That section of beach isn’t a popular destination, especially not in October. There’s not a lot of beach in between the dunes and the actual tideline, so it’s definitely not heavily trafficked, not heavily populated, and they really don’t get a lot of people walking to and from.

Officers checked with nearby law enforcement agencies as well as the Coast Guard, but nobody had heard anything. They expected the boy would be reported missing that night or the following day, but that did not happen. Law enforcement stated there was no family, no friends, no outcry, and nobody to claim this little boy.

When days passed and no one reported an accident or a missing child matching his description, police suspected foul play. Their suspicions grew after the body was examined: it showed signs of neglect and injuries consistent with child abuse. The medical examiner was certain that the boy hadn’t died by drowning, meaning he had to have been placed in the water once he was already dead.

Galveston Police Detective Jeff Banks said, “Somebody knows him. We are going to do right by him. We’re going to find out who did it, who put him in the water.” Banks was the lead detective and would spend over 1,600 hours on the case before it was finished. Because it involved such a young victim, the FBI assisted the Galveston police in their search of missing persons databases and submitted DNA samples to labs handling missing persons cases.

For a couple of days, they thought they might have a match when the sketch of a missing boy from Hawkins County, Tennessee, looked similar, but they soon determined the cases were unrelated.

Given the nickname “Little Jacob,” the FBI asked forensic artist Lois Gibson to draw a sketch based on crime scene photos. Lois is a world-renowned sketch artist involved in many difficult cases, including drawing baby Grace (identified as Riley and Sawyer). Lois wanted to make the boy come to life in her sketch, stating she wanted to reach out to a grandmother, relative, mommy, daddy, or neighbor who knew the baby.

In November of 2017, the sketch appeared in a billboard campaign around Texas, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with the FBI offering a $10,000 reward for information. Lots of tips came in, but none helped identify him. Some callers volunteered to pay for his funeral, but he could not be laid to rest until his case was solved, so his body remained at the morgue.

The FBI took the search nationwide, and Crime Stoppers offered their own $5,000 reward. Police asked the public to look out for suspicious actions, noting the parents might be missing work, have abruptly moved, or offer plausible explanations such as CPS taking the child, the child staying with family, or behavioral problems causing stress.

On January 30th, 2018, police made the controversial decision to release an edited version of an actual crime scene photo. Photographs of dead bodies, especially young children, are rarely released, but they hoped his face would help someone recognize him. Lois noted that while her sketch and the real photo were similar, the photo evoked a much stronger emotional response, showing him with closed eyes, modeled skin, pale lips, and a lifeless expression.

Brett Buffington explained live on air that the police hoped the pure emotion of seeing his face would force someone to speak. Lois Gibson agreed, noting this was the sixth time she had shown the face of such a young victim to the world, and the only case still unsolved.

Galveston police investigators reiterated that Little Jacob was dumped in Galveston County waters. An autopsy proved he didn’t drown and was likely abused and neglected beforehand. Police still didn’t know who he was or who he belonged to, facing the terrifying prospect of the case remaining unsolved. Captain Sherard stated the photo was released as a last option because someone must have seen him, and he deserved to be identified and properly laid to rest.

Hundreds of tips poured in, and two of them put police on the right path. One caller recognized the boy in the crime scene photo, while another thought Little Jacob might be the son of Rebecca Rivera and her girlfriend, Dania Amis Gomez. Rebecca had two children, but when callers saw her and her girlfriend in December of 2017, they only had one child with them. The child looked malnourished, and the women were heard discussing moving to Chicago in October of 2017 around the time Little Jacob was found, returning to Houston in December for a special occasion.

In April, another tip led police to speak with Diana Amis, Dania’s sister. Diana stated that when she asked where Rebecca’s older son was, Rebecca claimed he was with family. Family members denied knowing his whereabouts but shared a photo that strongly resembled Little Jacob.

The FBI and Galveston police tracked the couple to a Houston apartment on Kingsgate Circle. When police knocked and announced themselves, a woman crawled out a second-floor window and escaped. Police secured permission from the leasing friend to search the apartment days later, finding Rebecca inside along with Dania and Axel, Rebecca’s three-year-old son.

Rebecca claimed her son had been kidnapped but refused further details. Dania stated she hadn’t seen the boy for six months and believed he was staying with family, though Rebecca later told her he was dead after police showed her Little Jacob’s picture. Realizing Dania lacked proper immigration paperwork, officers transferred her to a Harris County ICE facility.

Meanwhile, investigators learned Jaden had broken his left femur two years prior and was treated at Texas Children’s Hospital. DNA from Rebecca was tested against samples from Little Jacob. The medical examiner confirmed Little Jacob had a healed left femur bone matching Rebecca’s missing son, and DNA results on April 25th proved Rebecca was 49 million times more likely to be the mother than any other person. Jaden Lopez was Little Jacob.

On May 19th, 2018, at a press conference, FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Brian Gaines announced that the 8-month investigation by the Galveston Police Department and FBI Texas City office had identified Jaden. FBI Agent Gaines stated: “No one reported Jaden as missing. No one was looking for him. Someone took a beautiful innocent child and discarded him in the ocean as if he was a piece of trash.”

Investigators then focused on what happened to Jaden. He and Axel had lived with Rebecca and Dania on Banette Street in Houston. Police located video and photographic evidence from October 19th, hours before Jaden’s body was found, showing Rebecca’s Isuzu Rodeo passing a toll booth toward Galveston.

In May, the FBI interviewed Dania at the ICE detention center. She claimed Rebecca told her to get into the SUV, and that she was too drunk to remember much else, waking up to find Jaden dead.

On June 19th, Rebecca was taken into custody, and three-year-old Axel was placed in foster care after being found unharmed. During a police interview, Rebecca claimed Jaden ran into a wall and hurt his head weeks before his death. She said she tried cleaning the wound with alcohol, accidentally spilled it on his face, and that he acted differently afterward. She admitted to beating him with clothes hangers or whatever she could find when frustrated that he caused problems in her relationship with Dania.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had previously been involved with Rebecca. Following his head injury, Jaden’s face swelled, lacked energy, and he suffered stomach aches, growing sicker over two weeks. Rebecca refused to take him to the hospital out of fear of losing her children. Dania watched his health decline and did nothing.

Rebecca claimed Jaden passed away in the middle of the night, and because he liked the beach, she decided to put his body in the ocean, denying it was to hide his death. Jaden’s body was in the SUV with Axel present during the trip to Galveston, where they dumped him off East Beach.

Rebecca was arrested and charged with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence of a human body, while Dania faced a misdemeanor count. Rebecca’s bond was set at $250,000 and Dania’s at $100,000 (though Dania was held on an immigration hold).

Days later, charges against both women were increased to first-degree felony offenses of injury to a child by omission, raising Rebecca’s bond to $500,000. Rebecca asked the court for leniency and a suspended sentence, citing a lack of felony convictions, though she had a 2003 DUI conviction and a 2011 arrest. Dania took a plea deal to testify against Rebecca in exchange for a shorter sentence, pending her immigration resolution.

Rebecca’s trial began on January 27th, 2021, prosecuted by two District Attorneys from the Galveston County Special Victims Unit. Dr. Aaron Barnhart, the Galveston County Medical Examiner, performed the autopsy, finding severe neglect and torture. Jaden had a broken femur, scars from clothes hanger beatings, ligature marks on his wrists and ankles indicating restraint, cigarette burns on his back, bruises, blunt force trauma injuries, pneumonia symptoms, and severe emaciation (weighing only 28 pounds at 3 feet tall).

Dr. Barnhart confirmed he had not drowned and was dead before being dumped in the water, estimating death occurred around October 17th or 18th.

The trial lasted 7 days. The jury deliberated for an hour before finding Rebecca Rivera guilty of injury to a child by omission. Prosecutors stated, “You can’t rehabilitate evil.” Rebecca was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Her appeal was denied on February 28th, 2023. She is currently serving her sentence at the William P. Hobby Women’s Prison in Falls County, Texas, becoming eligible for parole in 2048. Dania pleaded guilty, received a 2-year sentence for her part in Jaden’s death, and an additional 2 years for an unrelated public servant harassment conviction, after which she was likely deported.

The people of Galveston were deeply shaken by Jaden’s story. On February 19th, local residents Valerie Sutton and Pamela Willum held a candlelight vigil on the beach near where his body was found, honoring his short life and calling him a precious boy who deserved to be honored. Locals also created a small shrine on the seawall near 7th Street with crosses, stuffed animals, toys, and blue wooden crosses on the beach.

Jaden’s aunt organized a funeral for him on July 6th, 2018. Vazquez Funeral Home in Houston donated its services, providing a casket, hearse, and burial plot. A white teddy bear sat atop his small white casket. Four-year-old Jaden Lopez was carried to Hollywood Cemetery in North Houston, laid to rest in the baby land section, led by Galveston police officers who worked tirelessly on his case.

Father Francisco Xavier Arjon conducted the service, emphasizing the community’s collective responsibility to protect children and prevent such tragedies.