Here on Stolen Lives, we discuss brutal and heartbreaking crimes against children.

Themes may include child murder, torture, and sexual domestic and child abuse.

I do try my best to remain respectful for the babies in these stories, and leave out unnecessary details

that honestly, none of us need to know to understand the frustration of why and how this ever happened.

However, if you find any of these themes triggering, this podcast may not be for you.

Listen, our discretion is advised.

New Orleans, Louisiana, August 2025, a mother reported her nonverbal, autistic 12-year-old son missing, seemingly going through his bedroom window and wandering away.

Nearly two weeks later, his body was found in a marsh with two alligators.

This discovery was at first thought to be a tragic accident. Nearly two weeks later, his body was found in a marsh with two alligators.

This discovery was at first thought to be a tragic accident.

But soon, a web of lies would be uncovered, revealing a lifetime of abuse towards this little boy.

This is Brian's story.

With extreme heat and other environmental challenges, the search for 12-year-old Brian Vasquez becomes more desperate. Police believe the boy is nude and say it has been

days since he took his Caesar medicine. Brian Aaron Vasquez was born August 4th, 2013.

In Matery, Louisiana, to mother Hilda Vasquez, it's not clear who Brian's father was,

only that he wasn't in the little boy's life, at the time of his death and disappearance.

He was the youngest of four children born to all different fathers.

August 14, 2025, around 10.20 a.m.

Brian's mother, Hilda Vasquez, called to the New Orleans Police Department.

She was reporting her 12-year-old non-verbal autistic son missing.

Now this should have set up alarm bells to everyone.

There should have been some urgency here,

...