The Misery Machine - The Elisa Izquierdo Story: The Death of a Princess

Starting point is 00:00:09 Hi with the Misery Machine. I'm Yergy. And I'm Drewby. And this week we're doing a child case that spawned a lot of legislative change in New York City. And that's the Elisa Skierdo case. This is another listener suggestion from Lisa in Newark. So thank you so much Lisa for suggesting this case. Thank you, Lisa.

Starting point is 00:00:24 And if you too want to suggest a case, go ahead and drop one in the comments section below or shoot us an email at Miserrimachine Podcast at gmail.com. And if you are listening on YouTube, please hit like and subscribe. We're almost at 8,000 subscribers. So thank you everyone that has helped us out so far. Yes, thank you so much. without further ado. Alisa Isquierdo.

Starting point is 00:00:47 Elisa Ischirdo was born on February 11, 1989, to her father, Gustavo, a Cuban immigrant with aspirations to become a choreographer, and her mother, Awilda, a Puerto Rican raised in Brooklyn, New York. The unlikely couple met at a homeless shelter where Gustavo worked as a cook and a maintenance man. Awilda was a resident at the shelter, having been evicted from the apartment she shared with a previous partner named Ruben Rivera. who was the father of her two eldest children. The two began a casual relationship.

Starting point is 00:01:19 However, this ended when Gustavo discovered that a very pregnant O'Wilda was a heavy narcotic drug user. Due to this, Awelda lost custody of her two eldest children, Ruben Cino and Casey, to her own family in January 1989. Sadly, but not surprisingly, Elisa was born addicted to crack cocaine, requiring social workers to immediately notify the city's child welfare administration services as to her condition. As a result of a Wilda's refusal to get clean from drugs, full custody of Elisa was awarded to her father, Gustavo. By all accounts, Gustavo was a doting and caring father to Elisa, despite

Starting point is 00:02:01 being inexperienced. He attended parenting classes. He sought advice from relatives as to how to care for his daughter. He ironed her dresses and learned to style her hair. He even, or, he even, or organized celebrations for her first birthdays, and he rented a banquet hall to celebrate her baptism. At 1990, Gustavo enrolled his daughter in the YWCA's Montessori preschool. However, soon after, Gustavo began having health issues that hampered his ability to pay for Elisa's schooling. As Elisa was such an outstanding student, and it was clear that Gustavo was a dedicated father. Both teachers and the school principal introduced her to one of the school's patrons, Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark in 1993.

Starting point is 00:02:46 Upon his arrival at the school, Elisa leaped into Prince Michael's arms and stayed by his side for the rest of the day. He in turn offered to pay for Elisa's private tuition at the Independent Brooklyn Friends School until her senior year. Occasionally thereafter, Prince Michael would send Elisa small gifts to which he would express her thanks by responding with drawings or notes. Elisa was a real-life Cinderella. The same year Lisa was enrolled in preschool, a social worker signed an affidavit stating that Awelda had successfully beaten her addiction,

Starting point is 00:03:18 had secured permanent accommodation within the Rutgers House's project in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and had married a maintenance worker named Carlos Lopez, with whom she was now expecting her fourth child. In December 1990, having given birth to a daughter named Taisha, she regained custody of her two eldest children, Ruben Cino and Casey. In November of 1991, O'Wilda Lopez was awarded unsupervised visitation rights to Elisa. This ruling awarded her custody every second weekend. Allegedly, O'wilda's two oldest children informed relatives that throughout these visits, Elisa would be abused and neglected by her mother and stepfather, to which these relatives did not inform authorities.

Starting point is 00:04:03 During one such visit, Carlos Lopez stabbed O'Wilda 17 times, after which he was jailed. Both Elisa's father and her teachers noted that she was covered in bruises and other signs of abuse when she returned from these unsupervised visits. One of the locations of these injuries was her genitalia. Elisa complained that her mother had repeatedly hit her and locked her in cupboards and that she had no desire to see her mother ever again. Gustavo noted that Elisa had begun bedwetting in addition to losing control of her bowels and would regularly experience nightmares upon learning that she'd have to go see her mother, even for short periods of time.

Starting point is 00:04:43 A family friend noted that Elisa would always vomit upon returning from visitation and refuse to enter bathrooms. Elisa's teachers, as well as her father, informed authorities of the abuse Elisa was enduring at the hands of her mother. Elisa also disclosed the abuse to a social worker, and her father applied in 1992 to have a will-dust visitation rights terminated. However, the courts denied the application with the conditions that O'Wilda must not strike or otherwise harm her daughter. So this reminds me a lot of the case of Adrian Jones, where basically the child was taken away from the mother and placed with the father and the stepmother. They basically were abusing Adrian and then trying to avoid CPS jurisdiction by going back and forth from kids. Kansas to Missouri. And every single time they got in trouble, they would have to sign some sort of affidavit, basically pinky swearing that they wouldn't abuse him again. Yeah. Just promise you're not going to commit a crime and we'll let you have your kid. And I don't really want to get too far into what happened with that case because it is a case that I want to cover in the future. But I can just say nothing good happened there.

Starting point is 00:06:00 We should also- Nothing good happens. We should also mention, I'm not familiar with the Adrian Jones case, but as, far as Elise is concerned, you know, this is 1992, this is still a time period where the trope that you can't keep a child away from her mother, no matter what the circumstances or a child can't live with only their father, that was

Starting point is 00:06:19 still pervasive in child custody battles. Very much so. So in 1993, Gustavo formulated an escape plan to relocate with Elisa to his native Cuba. He purchased airline tickets for himself and his daughter with travel plans scheduled for May 26 of 1994. However, in May, Gustavo was admitted to the hospital with acute

Starting point is 00:06:42 respiratory complications, which unfortunately was subsequently diagnosed as late-stage lung cancer. Gustavo Iskirdo unfortunately died on May 26, the same date he had planned to run away to Cuba with his dear Elisa. Upon hearing the news of Gustavo's death, the director of Elisa's school, Phyllis Bryce, contacted a family court judge. to express the grave concerns of both herself and numerous members of the school staff, as to Elisa's safety should her mother regain custody. In response to this, O'wilda immediately applied for sole permanent custody of Elisa, to which she was granted temporary custody.

Starting point is 00:07:24 Upon hearing this news, Elsa Canazaris, the cousin of Gustavo, challenged the ruling and herself applied for full custody of Elisa, citing the documented abuse that she had endured, during the unsupervised weekend visits with her mother. Both the head teacher of Elisa's school and Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark also wrote personal letters to Judge Phoebe Greenbaum opposing the initial temporary custody granted to O'Wilda Lopez

Starting point is 00:07:52 and endorsed Elsa Canizaris application to obtain permanent and sole custody of Elisa. Furthermore, in his letter to Judge Greenbaum, Prince Michael emphasized his intentions to pay for Elisa's education at Brooklyn Friends School, should Elsa Canazares be awarded custody? Lacking funds, Elsa attended court without a lawyer, whereas Awilda Lopez's application for custody

Starting point is 00:08:18 was backed by a lawyer from the Legal Aid Society and also a federally funded parenting program. According to Elsa Canizares, at the hearing, the legal representatives for Awilda testified to her, quote, valiant efforts to refrain from relapsing into drug use. falsely claiming that caseworkers had visited the Lopez residence and that Elisa had expressed a strong desire to live with her biological mother. Furthermore, Canizares was criticized by

Starting point is 00:08:46 Awilda's legal representation at the hearing for having the nerve to try to take Elisa away from her mother. Awilda Lopez's application to obtain permanent in sole custody was approved by Judge Greenbaum on September of 1994. Immediately, Wilder withdrew Elisa from the private school she had been attending, and enrolled her in Manhattan's Public School, 126, where Elisa was quickly observed to be withdrawn, emotionally disturbed, refusing to communicate, and to urinate frequently. The principal of the school observed that Elisa was covered in numerous bruises, walked with unusual difficulty, and had evidently begun tearing out sections of her hair. This is a condition known as Trichotillomania, and you may

Starting point is 00:09:32 remember us discussing this disorder in our Judith Barcy episode. Yes, and on March 14, 1995, an anonymous letter was received by the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities. The author of this letter stated that Alisa Lopes had cut off much of Elisa's hair and had begun locking her in the dark room for egregious periods of time. Soon after, Elisa was admitted to the hospital with a broken shoulder. Evidence suggested that her fracture had been untreated for three days. The staff at Public School 126 reported their concerns of the evident abuse of the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities. Allegedly, they stated that their concerns were, quote, not reportable due to a lack of direct evidence of child abuse and neglect. Yes, the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities gave that

Starting point is 00:10:21 statement. In response to the school having reported the suspected abuse of her daughter resulting in a home visit, O'Wilda, who has already relapsed to regular crack cocaine use at this point, permanently withdrew Elisa from public school 126 in the spring of 1995, and she made no effort to enroll Elisa in any other school. And from my understanding, didn't even file the proper paperwork for homeschooling. Correct. Despite having six children in total, Awelda targeted Elisa for almost all of the physical, mental, and emotional abuse.

Starting point is 00:10:56 After pulling her from her school, Elisa was locked in her bedroom, denied the opportunity to socialize with her siblings or leave the apartment and was forced to use a chamber pot. So archaic and barbaric. Neighbors also reported hearing the sounds of Elisa being beaten and otherwise abused, later reporting hearing Elisa repeatedly pleading with her mother to stop hitting her, crying out with pleas such as Mommy, Mommy, please stop. No more, I'm sorry.

Starting point is 00:11:24 Some neighbors did report their suspicions of child abuse to the child welfare authorities. however, no effective action was taken. Other neighbors reportedly knew of the abuse Alisa endured, but failed to notify authorities. And I don't want to get too far ahead of myself because I think there's more to say on this case specifically. But this is obviously a clear example of bystander apathy, which we unfortunately highlight in more cases than I care to admit on this podcast. A representative from the federally funded parenting program, which had endorsed Awelda's motion for sole custody, reported that Awilda had called him, complaining that her daughter was unable to control her bladder or bowels, had cut off her hair and was drinking from the toilet. The representative called the Manhattan Child Welfare authorities who denied his request for a home visit. Owilda inflicted horrendous abuse upon her daughter, which included repeated punching and kicking, forcing Elisa to eat her own excrues. and urine, mopping the floor with Elisa's hair, inflicting burns upon the child's head,

Starting point is 00:12:31 face, and body, and violating her both vaginally and anally with a hairbrush and a toothbrush. A Wilde's husband, Carlos Lopez, repeatedly physically abused and neglected Elisa and her two older siblings, Rubin Sino and Casey, due to the fact that none of the three were his biological children. On November 15th, Carlos Lopez was arrested for a parole violation. A week later, on the evening of November 22nd, Awilda called one of her sisters, Mercy Torres, to report that Elisa was unresponsive, with fluid leaking from her nose and mouth. This was later determined to be cerebrospinal fluid. Lopez informed her sister that Elisa would not eat or drink. When Torres insisted A will to take Elisa to the hospital, a willter replied that she would think

Starting point is 00:13:20 about it after she finished cleaning her dishes. The following morning, Awilda contacted a neighbor whom she invited to view Elisa's lifeless body. The neighbor demanded that a willda call 911, to which she refused. In response, the neighbor immediately called emergency services as Awilda threatened to commit suicide. Owilda confessed to having hit and then thrown Elisa head first into a concrete wall two days prior, after she allegedly defecated in the apartment, adding that Elisa neither talked nor walked after this incident. An autopsy revealed numerous injuries, including broken fingers, with one bone of which was protruding through the skin in her pinky,

Starting point is 00:14:02 damage to internal organs, deep welts and burns across her head, face and body, and wounds sustained from being beaten with a ringed finger. Her genitalia and rectum had evidence of trauma, and it was proven that she had sustained injuries over a long period of time. And I believe that direct cause of death was found to be a hemorrhage in the brain from being thrown into the concrete wall. On June 25, 1996, O'Wilda Lopez pled guilty to the second-degree murder of Alisa Isquiredo in a hearing held before Judge Alvin Schlesinger at the New York State Supreme Court.

Starting point is 00:14:39 Upon the advice of her attorney, Lopez took a plea deal offered by the prosecution with the knowledge that she'd become eligible for parole after serving 15 years. Judge Schlesinger sentenced to Willda Lopez 15 years to life in prison. Prior to sentencing, the judge openly criticized the child welfare system within New York, stating, quote, We have not created procedures to do everything necessary to protect the young and the vulnerable in this society. The system has failed to protect our babies, and don't tell me how much it costs. If anything is to become of this horrendous tragedy, then it will be that we give priority to these babies, end quote.

Starting point is 00:15:20 Although Obelda Lopez became eligible for parole in 2010, she has remained incarcerated since August of 1996. Lopez was most recently denied parole in July of 2020. Her next scheduled parole hearing is to be held on January of 2022. As of 2021, she remains incarcerated at the maximum security bed for two. Hill's correctional facility for women. On October 29, 1996, Elisa's stepfather, Carlos Lopez, was sentenced to serve between 18 months to three years in prison to run consecutive with the sentence he was already serving at the time of Elisa's death. This sentence was in relation to one specific instance of physical abuse dating from October 31st, 1995, in which he had repeatedly

Starting point is 00:16:06 banged Elisa's head against a concrete wall in the presence of her siblings. Carlos Lopez pled guilty to attempted second-degree assault, claiming that he had not actually assaulted Elisa, but opted to spare his children the emotional trauma of having to testify against him. The judge rejected this claim outright, adding that the prosecution team had largely chosen this charge to spare Elisa's siblings any further psychological or emotional trauma. Elisa's five siblings ended up raised in separate foster homes. Reportedly all suffered acute psychological trauma due to the acts of extreme physical trauma due to the acts of extreme and mental cruelty they had been forced to witness inflicted upon their sister.

Starting point is 00:16:47 Elisa Iskirdo's funeral was held on November 29, 1995. The service was officiated by the outspoken Reverend Gianni Agostinelli, who informed the estimated 300 mourners in attendance that Elisa had been murdered not only by her mother, but by, quote, the silence of many, by the neglect of child welfare institutions and the moral mediocrity that has intoxicated our neighborhoods, end quote. Attendees included relatives, neighbors, politicians, as well as Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and countless members of the public touched by this case. Elisa's tiny white casket remained open throughout the ceremony, with the extensive trauma

Starting point is 00:17:32 inflicted to her face still visible through the cosmetics applied by the funeral director. Elisa wore a crown of white flowers on her head, a white long-sleeve gown concealing the bruising on her arms, and a single red rose was placed in her hand. Her casket adorned with white flowers and a Barbie doll given to Elisa by her father was placed alongside her body. Many mourners placed pink carnations, toys, stuffed animals, and notes of sympathy in and upon her casket prior to her burial at Cypress Hill Cemetery. Elisa's gravestone bears a plaque with the inscription reading, World, please watch over the children. It's been noted that Elisa's aunt, Elsa Canazaris, petitioned for Elisa to be buried alongside her father.

Starting point is 00:18:16 However, a Wilde's family was granted rights to the child's body and buried her on top of the grave of Ephraim Morales. Throughout my research, I have been unable to determine how, or if this person, is even related to Elisa. If you know who Ephraim Morales is, like please leave us a comment and let us know. Public outrage was at its height when it was revealed that a judge had awarded custody of Elisa

Starting point is 00:18:40 to Willva Lopez, even with her spiraling drug addiction and the evidence of increasing physical, mental, and emotional abuse reported to the Manhattan Child Welfare authorities who failed to save Elisa from her mother despite numerous people in her family and school having reported their concerns for poor Elisa. Governor George Pataki formally signed Elisa's law on February 12, 1996 into legislation.

Starting point is 00:19:04 Named in Elisa's honor, the law is designed to enhance the requirement for increased accountability among welfare workers, particularly with regards to the deaths of children previously reported to child protective services as having suffered any form of neglect or abuse. Elisa's law is still on the books today and continues to hold those who should be acting

Starting point is 00:19:26 as advocates for these young children publicly accountable for their performance. And so what I wanted to talk more about that we mentioned earlier, as we always point out bystander apathy, it's something that really twists me up inside. But the thing about this case goes much further than bystander apathy. And yes, there are clear examples of bystander apathy. There was people who neighbors in particular that knew that Elisa was being abused and did not do anything. What makes this even worse and far more tragic, in my opinion, is there were people that did say something. people who stuck their neck out only to be denied.

Starting point is 00:20:04 And in the case of Elsa Canizaris, she was humiliated for trying to save Elisa from her mother. I mean, it's absolutely insane that royalty can't even save a child. This is the Queen of England's first cousin by marriage could not save poor Elisa. Yeah, I think that's a big part that people tend to overlook. literal royalty was basically sponsoring this girl and wrote a personal recommendation and that didn't even do anything. And not only this, when it came to the custody battle between Elsa and Owilda, the state brought in lawyers and resources for Awilda to win this custody battle, even with the knowledge that she was abusing her child. it does not seem like reality, especially in the 90s. So many people failed this girl.

Starting point is 00:21:00 I remember saying this about Sylvia Likens, but in this example, with Elisa, not only did so many people fail this girl, but it's absolutely unforgivable. I agree. And I don't want to go into some sort of back and forth in the comments on this one about, oh, how CPS was different now

Starting point is 00:21:15 and you're talking about things today. It doesn't matter. Yeah. It doesn't matter. We had so much. people on Sylvia Likens say, oh, well, you don't get it because CPS was different then. Yeah, I know CPS I don't care. I mean, that's really what I have to say to you. I don't care. Imagine defending CPS when we're talking about this awful torture and murder of a young girl. Yeah. And now in this case,

Starting point is 00:21:40 what are you going to say now? It's the 90s. You come in here. Well, CPS was different then. Yeah, I'm sure it's different than it is today in 2021. But the point is that it should have been much better. And even today, there's plenty of criticisms. You can level against CPS. And it's not just CPS. There were several different governing bodies of child welfare that had a hand in this, knew what was going on, and just allowed Elisa to be in the care of her mother. And it's not even about the drug abuse. I fully feel that parents should go through treatment and be able to get their kids back. Like, I really, really fully feel that. But the thing about the this is is she was coming back beaten. She was with a step-parent who stabbed her mother. So she's

Starting point is 00:22:27 been exposed to attempted murder at this point. And if she's still living there, it's not a safe environment for the children at all. And there's like all these children there. Like how is she even taking care of all of them? I mean, we've seen footage of her online. She's not all there. She is definitely not. I don't know what, what's going on, but she's definitely not mentally sounds. There's a couple interviews with her. They're very easy to find and she does not seem in touch with reality. Your speaking's very fast. She's kind of all over the place. It's just ridiculous. When a child comes back bruised, when they are showing clear signs of sexual abuse, it should have never gotten to the point where she was able to, first off, regain full custody after the death of Gustavo, but visitation

Starting point is 00:23:14 should have been ceased completely at that point. There's no excuse. And it was. And it was, wasn't even like, oh, she's got a bruise. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't one of those situations. She was clearly beaten. Like, we can't overstress this enough. She was obviously beaten. Like, you could see it on her face. This is not just oversight.

Starting point is 00:23:32 This is not just carelessness. It's just egregious disregard for any sort of decency or regard for human life. It is making the clear choice to refuse to save a child. without question. And we could probably go on about that for a long time. But this was not carelessness. This was not solely due to political red tape. People had the ability to intervene, knew what was going on, and it chose not to save her.

Starting point is 00:24:06 And like the thing about it is, is like after the facts, Judge Greenbaum got a lot of heat from the public. And Mayor Giuliani, I'm very surprised he showed up at the funeral, but he defended Judge Greenbaum. Yes, he did. And basically said, well, she made the best decision she could with the information she had at the time. Get out of here. Yeah, Giuliani did not handle this one well at all. And we didn't go into a lot about that. He took a lot of flack for it, too, even though it wasn't something that he directly had his hand in. But don't defend her. He should have called for her resignation, in the very least called for her resignation. I believe she's still practicing. I looked her up because I tried to find some pictures of her. There aren't any really good.

Starting point is 00:24:47 ones, but I found her LinkedIn. You can find her on LinkedIn. She's still practicing in Colorado. From what I understand, there was a petition to have her removed and or disbarred, whatever the terminology is. And it was unsuccessful as those things usually are. But yeah, she's still alive in practicing. And it's kind of crazy to think that Elisa today would be in her 30s. But we could go on about this forever. There is nothing that can be said to change the fact about how in some nightmare situation, everybody chose to let a little girl die. And the ones that chose to try to save her were flagrantly blocked. And that's all I really have to say about that. So if you appreciated this episode and you're listening on YouTube, if you could please hit like and

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The Misery Machine - The Elisa Izquierdo Story: The Death of a Princess

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