The Misery Machine - The Case of Lazaro Figueroa

Starting point is 00:00:00 Lazaro Figueroa was born on September 18, 1987 to parents Anna Maria Cardona in Fidel Figueroa. Sadly, Fidel never got to meet his son. He was a well-known drug trafficker in South Florida, who died under what some sources describe as mysterious circumstances on September 20th, 1987. And by hysterious circumstances, he was shot to death. As of the date of this recording in November of 2024, Fidel's case is still unsolved. Some sources claim that Lazaro had two siblings, while others claimed that he had three. Now, according to the Miami Herald, he had an older brother and an older sister.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Lazaro had just turned three years old at the time of our story. Anna Maria Cardona was born to a poor single mother on November 26, 1961 in Havana, Cuba. Life for young Anna under the Castro regime was a grim reality. When she was just 10 years old, she was the victim of SA. As a teenager, she attempted to remove herself from the earth on numerous occasions. At the age of 16, she already had issues with alcohol and substance use and had turned to the streets to make money. Things at home weren't much better for her, as according to Anna, her mother was often violent with her. The age of 19, Anna left the island nation for a new life in Miami, Florida.

Starting point is 00:01:22 This was during a time in history known as the Marial Boat Lift that occurred between April 15th and October 31st of 1980. Marial boat lift was a mass exodus of Cuban citizens who traveled from Cuba's Marial Harbor to the United States. By late October of 1980, it is estimated that over 125,000 Cubans had arrived in Florida. Anna later told rapport with the Rolling Stone, my whole family died in Cuba. All I have left is God and my children. Now, at this juncture in our story, Anna was alone and pregnant with her oldest son on the streets of Miami, and she went back to supporting herself the only way that she knew. knew how to. It was around this time that Lazaro's father, Fidel, came into the picture.

Starting point is 00:02:04 Now, as we mentioned previously, Fidel was well known in the Miami underworld and dealt the most popular substance of the 1980s. And before Anna even realized it, she had a full-blown addiction. On the bright side, Fidel made more money than Anna had ever seen in her entire life, and she and her son were finally off the streets. She was living a life akin to Elvira Hancock from Scarface, with a luxury penthouse apartment, fancy sports cars, and a live-and-maid. In 1985, she gave birth to a daughter, and in 1987 she was expecting a son, little Lazaro. But this fairy tale ending soon turned into a nightmare when Fidel was shot and killed in 1987, just a month before Lazaro was born.

Starting point is 00:02:48 Now, as we mentioned, no one has ever been held responsible for his murder, but it's reasonable to assume that it could have had something to do with his hazardous occupation. But Fidel didn't exactly leave Anna and her children empty-handed. She inherited a $100,000 estate. Combined with the luxury condo, this could have set her up for a comfortable life, but instead she squandered her inheritance on the Florida nightlife scene, blowing all of it on drugs and alcohol. Soon, CPS became involved in Anna's life after she abandoned her children with babysitters

Starting point is 00:03:21 for months straight at a time. Some sources claim that her kids went to stay with friends and relatives. Others stated that they were placed in foster care so that the widow could turn her life around, but sadly, she never did turn her life around. Soon, Anna was evicted from her home, and she lost her fancy cars as well as all the bells and whistles that went along with living a life of luxury. The mother, who had somehow regained custody of her three children, was back on the Miami streets.

Starting point is 00:03:51 She later told reporters, it's hard. You find yourself on the streets with little children like I did, and not a single person extends a hand. It was around this time in 1989 that Anna found love again, this time in the form of hard partying Olivia Gonzalez Mendoza, whom she met at a nightclub in Miami Beach. The pair shared a fondness for drink and white powder and quickly fell for one another. Soon, Olivia invited Anna and her kids to move in with her. Out of money and with no place to turn, this seemed like an ideal situation. At this point in our story, Lazaro was 18 months old. With her kids in tow, Anna and Olivia moved from one sleazy roach motel to the next,

Starting point is 00:04:32 with their only source of income coming from Olivia's various odd jobs and five-finger discounts. Around this time, Anna's grief over the loss of Fidel turned to anger and spite. Instead of trying to better herself for her children's sake, she turned her ire towards Little Lazaro, who she blamed for the loss of her rags to riches lifestyle, going as far to refer to the toddler as a bad birth. Over an 18-month period, Anna took her anger out on her youngest child. We're into legal documents, which we'll be referencing several times in our story, Anna,

Starting point is 00:05:06 beat, choked, starved, confined, emotionally abused, and systematically tortured Lazaro. Anna did everything that she could keep Lazaro out of sight and out of mind. A toddler spent much of the time tied to a bed, left in a bathtub with the hot or cold water running, or locked in a closet. To avoid changing Lazaro's diaper for as long as possible, Anna Cardona would wrap duct tape around the child's diaper to hold in the excrement. Now, Olivia was complicit in this two. Allegedly, she took part in the mistreatment of the toddler because it pleased Anna. In fact, on Halloween of 1990, Olivia went as far to beat Lazaro, who had just turned three years old in the head with a baseball bat.

Starting point is 00:05:50 Little boy's head was split open, and rather than call 911 or drive to the hospital, Olivia chose to lock Lazaro in the closet. It should be noted that he had been confined to this very closet for the last two months. The following day, Olivia and Anna opened the closet door and threatened the boy with the baseball bat and an attempt to hush him up. This had the exact opposite effect, and Lazaro began screaming at the sight of the couple. Allegedly, Anna grabbed the bat from Olivia and Olivia left the room. When she returned, Anna confessed to her that she thought that she had killed her son. Now again, instead of calling emergency services, the pair dressed the boy, drove him to Miami Beach, and discarded his body in some bushes like he was trash.

Starting point is 00:06:35 Then fled to Central Florida where they had a little getaway at Disney World. On November 2, 1990, workers with a Florida Power and Light Company made a grim discovery. Hidden beneath some shrubbery in an affluent Miami Beach neighborhood was the body of an emaciated little boy. His body was so thin and frail, he looked like a skeleton. He had a bruised right eye and was wearing an excrement-caped diaper that had been affixed to his tiny frame with layers upon layers of brown packing tape. Little boy was clad in a pair of blue gym shorts and was wearing a t-shirt with a design on it

Starting point is 00:07:11 that led Miami Beach Police Department to refer to him as baby lollipops in the press. At autopsy, it was found that baby lollipops only weighed 18 pounds at the time of his death. Upon examination of his head, medical examiner Dr. Bruce Heima noted subdural and subarachnoid hematomas and a fresh tear to his corpus callosum, which is a nerve track beneath a cerebral cortex in the brain. This type of injury would have been caused by a blow to the head with some sort of hard object, like a baseball bat, for example. According to the medical examiner, the impact occurred hours to days before the little boy succumbed to his injuries. The blow to the head also fractured the boy's skull, allowing meningitis bacteria to invade his brain and crushed his

Starting point is 00:07:56 olfactory nerve. In addition, baby lollipop's body was littered with bruises and scars, with numerous injuries that indicated prolonged torture. This included a cigarette burned to his left cheek, as well as broken bones and teeth. In fact, his arm was permanently fixed at a 90-degree angle and rendered useless due to repeated injury, and there was evidence that he had been gagged. The little boy was covered with bed sores, a injury more commonly seen in bedbound people or someone who had been tied to a bed. He was malnourish, dehydrated, and suffering from anemia. In the end, Dr. Heimer ruled baby lollipop's cause of death is a skull fracture and his manner of death as a homicide. He also noted that even though the skull fracture was indeed what killed the boy, he was already

Starting point is 00:08:44 in the process of slowly dying from his other collective injuries. The Miami Beach Police Department quickly sprang into action to confirm the identity of the little boy and to hold those who tortured him responsible. They hosted press conferences and conducted bilingual door-to-door interviews around the area. They received numerous leads and were eventually pointed in the right direction. And Anna and Olivia learned about the discovery of Lazaro's body or baby lollipops as he was now known to the public. The pair first fled to Orlando and then to St. Cloud, where they were ultimately arrested. Now, Anna told the police an array of conflicting statements about what had happened to her son, but finally settled on the following story.

Starting point is 00:09:28 She claimed that the child had fallen off the bed and injured himself. When she couldn't revive him, she took the boy to a Miami Beach residence and left him on a doorstep so the people who owned the house could help him. Olivia agreed to this version of her girlfriend's account of the events, and the two were both charged with aggravated CA and first-degree murder. However, Olivia quickly made a deal with the prosecution. She admitted to her role in Lazaro's death and pled guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated CA.

Starting point is 00:09:55 In return, she agreed to testify against her girlfriend. In the end, Olivia only served 17 years of her 40-year sentence. As of 2008, she was released from prison and is now a free woman walking among us. At her trial in 1992, Anna pointed the finger at Olivia, calling her up. monster and a murderer, I mean that she was the one who killed her son. She accused Olivia of spraying Lazaro with insecticide because she enjoyed watching him convulse on the floor. She claimed that Olivia had drawn her into her spider's web, made her trade her body in exchange for room and board for her and her kids. She also alleged that Olivia was violent towards her, once stabbing her in the hand during an

Starting point is 00:10:38 argument. According to her defense attorney, Stephen Yermish, she was in a relationship. She viewed as inescapable because she was being provided for. But as we just mentioned, Olivia had already cut a deal with the prosecution, and her testimony, along with the testimony of some of Anna's acquaintances, was damning to say the least. Olivia testified that on Halloween of 1992, Anna, and I quote, got pissed off and she hit Lazaro with a bat over the head. This was allegedly because he wasn't removing his diaper fast enough for Anna's liking. Olivia stated that Anna beat her son until a hole was opened up in his head. His head was cracked. She went on to explain that the head wound started bleeding and bleeding and bleeding and then I put mercury on it and I applied a plastic band.

Starting point is 00:11:26 However, it was both Dr. Bruce Heima and Dr. Richard Suverin's testimony that sealed Anna's fate. He shared with the courtroom the following. Lazaro Figueroa died from CA neglect. Lasso didn't die from one particular injury. Lazaro was physically abhor over months of time. He also, also was neglected over months of time resulting in malnutrition and anemia. He was physically abys to the point of having irreversible brain damage, which eventually hastened his death. The final injuries to his brain were not necessary to cause his death. They, in and by themselves, they certainly could explain his death.

Starting point is 00:12:04 But his death was a culmination of all of his injuries. Lazaro also had an impending meningitis resulting from the prior head injury. Had he survived the most recent head injury, his meningitis would have been fatal had it not been treated. Lazaro was a physically abys and neglected child, and that was the cause of his death. Dr. Suverin performed Lazaro's post-mortem dental exam and shared with the court that, and I quote, his body was totally beat up. He looked like he had come from Auschwitz. Judge David L. Tobin admonished Anna for what she had done to her youngest child, calling her acts the most heinous, atrocious, and cruel of all times.

Starting point is 00:12:44 We would be inclined to agree as well. In the end, the jury found Anna Maria Cardona guilty on both counts of first-degree murder and aggravated CA and recommended a sentence of death in an eight-to-four vote. Judge Tobin accepted the recommendation and imposed an additional consecutive sentence of 15 years in prison for the aggravated CA charge. Sadly, our story doesn't end there because in 2002, Anna headed back to trial. Her death sentence plus 15 years was overturned due to a Brady violation. Now, in the U.S., the prosecution must disclose evidence or information that would prove the innocence of the defendant

Starting point is 00:13:22 or enable the defense to more effectively impeach the credibility of government witnesses. Evidence that would serve to reduce the defendant's sentence must also be disclosed by the prosecution. So, what happens? Well, a lot. During the appeals process, it was found that Olivia Gonzalez made Mendoza had actually confessed to the police that she had lied to the investigators and that she believed that she was the one who actually swung the fatal blow that killed Lazzaro. In addition, 14-year-old babysitter Gloria Pye, who had an undisclosed mental disability, testified that she threw Lazaro against the wall, killing him. However, at trial, Gloria recanted her statement, claiming that she had never even met the little boy.

Starting point is 00:14:04 In 2011, just like they had in the first trial, jurors found Anna guilty on the same two accounts, and she was sentenced to death for a second time. State attorney Catherine Fernandez Rundle shared the following sentiments with the court, stating, almost 20 years later, a second jury heard the evidence and has come to the same conclusion. The truth still remains the truth. And just like in her first trial, the judge had harsh words for Anna, telling her, Anna Maria Cardona, you have forfeited your right to live. Lazaro was tortured to death. And again, our story doesn't end with the second trial. After spending 17 years on death row, Anna's guilty verdict was once again overturned by the state's Supreme Court. The reason? Prosecutorial misconduct. They stated,

Starting point is 00:14:51 based upon the prosecutor's improper comments that permeated the state's closing argument, which repeatedly invoked justice for Lazaro and appealed to the passions of the jury, the overzealousness in prosecuting the state's cause actually worked against justice rather than for it. I don't know about you, but this whole, whole story has improperly inflamed my mind and passion. Revealed in the baby lollipop's case from the boy's mother who's accused of killing him. It was an emotional day on the stand for Anna Maria Cardona, so emotional that the judge had to temporarily pause the proceedings at times. CBS 4 is Gary Nelson is live for us outside the

Starting point is 00:15:28 Metro Justice Building in Miami with the story. Gary. Well, actually, we're on the floor where this trial is being conducted this week. mother twice convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of her little boy known as baby lollipops now being tried for a third time. Through a translator, Anna Maria Cardona testified often weeping as she stood trial a third time for the murder of her three-year-old son, Lazaro Figueroa, 27 years ago, known as baby lollipops for the designs on his t-shirt, Lazaro had been dumped and bulls. Lazzaro had been dumped and on Miami Beach, starved, beaten, his skull crushed. As before, Cardona blamed Olivia Gonzalez for the murder, a girlfriend with whom she says she had a reluctant relationship.

Starting point is 00:16:22 Any time that she would touch me, I would become nauseous. She said she stayed with Gonzalez because she needed a place to live with her children. She said Gonzalez was insanely jealous. The problem with Olivia was that I paid more attention to my children than I paid to her. Cardona said Gonzalez was particularly abusive to Lazaro, beating the boy. And one day she said Gonzalez claimed to have taken him to stay with a friend because there wasn't room enough for him in their small apartment. After you moved to that efficiency, did you ever see Lazaro again? The next news she says she got was from a homicide detective. He told me that my son was dead and I thought I felt like I was going to die.

Starting point is 00:17:15 Cardona said a statement she gave police in 1990, also admitted in this earlier trial where she said she dumped Lazaro's body was coerced. But witnesses testified they often saw Cardona a cocaine addict abuse her son. In previous trials, Gonzalez says she watched Cardoza smash the boy's head with a bat. I didn't kill my son. Olivia killed my son. In 2017, she was found guilty once more, but this time, the prosecution did not seek the death penalty. Instead, she was sentenced to life with Judge Miguel Dela O. noting, I don't think you will be meeting Lazaro in the afterlife.

Starting point is 00:18:00 Your actions were monstrous. The mind recoils at the hellish existence you put Lazaro through the last year of his life. There are wild beasts that show more empathy for their offspring than you showed Lazaro. After stern words from the judge, Cardona continued declaring her innocence. Cardona has given several accounts of what happened to her son over the years. When she took the stand, she said the real killer was her former girlfriend, Olivia Gonzalez. After Cardona's words in court, the judge made one final statement. That's Cardona? For the rest of your life, you can sit in jail and tell yourself whatever you want to say.

Starting point is 00:18:52 I don't have any doubt. This jury got it right, just like the other two juries. As of the date of this recording, Anna Maria Cardona is serving her time at the Lowell Correctional Institute. in Ocala, Florida. Sadly, this story doesn't end with just the deaths of Lazaro and his father, Fidel. Tragedy struck this family yet a third time. And his oldest son, now 37-year-old Juan Puente, was serving a 10-year prison sentence for burglary at Florida's Gulf Correctional Institutions annex. During Anna's second trial, Juan testified on his mother's behalf.

Starting point is 00:19:27 According to one of Anna's former lawyers, Ieth Georgie, the case followed him around. every time he got arrested, it was like a revolving door. The kid had a really sweet way about him. He was very easy to get to know and friendly. He had an addiction he couldn't cure. In February of 2018, Juan was found dead in his cell. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement would not disclose a manner of death or sheriff Juan's death was being treated as suspicious or not.

Starting point is 00:19:54 According to spokeswoman Jessica Carey, we do have an active investigation regarding this case. We cannot provide any details at this time. Now, if Lazaro's story sounds familiar to you, that's because his case is eerily similar to that of Jaden Alexander Lopez, also known as Little Jacob, whose story we covered last year. Four-year-old Jaden's body washed up on East Beach in Galveston, Texas in October of 2017, after his mother, Rebecca Suzanne Rivera, her girlfriend, Donia and Ms. Keita Gomez, murdered the little boy and dumped his body in the water.

Starting point is 00:20:27 If you're new to this channel, we'll not only link Jaden's story in the description for you to check out. We can also click here as well to see it. Both of these little boys deserved far better than the monsters that gave birth to them.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Lazaro Figueroa

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