NEIGHBORS saved a nine-year-old autistic boy from a canal — an hour before his mom allegedly pushed him again to his death again and faked his kidnap.
Patricia Ripley, 47, from Florida initially told cops two unknown men had cut her off in traffic on Thursday night in Miami before kidnapping her son, Alejandro Ripley.
But witness statements and surveillance footage show video of a woman, believed to Ripley pushing little Alejandro into a canal at the Kendall Acres Condominium complex around 7:30 pm that night.
Local News 10 reported that neighbors there came to his rescue before he could drown the first time — but investigators said his ordeal didn’t end there.
After her son was rescued, Ripley allegedly found another canal at the Miccosukee Golf and Country Club in Miami, which is where she led her young son into the water, cops say.
Alejandro’s lifeless body was found floating there at 7:50 am on Friday.
He was still wearing his Captain America t-shirt.
Ripley reportedly confessed that she lured her son into the canal twice when the footage came to light and witnesses placed her at the scene, according to court documents cited by CNN.
The Sun previously reported how Ripley claimed one of the robbers, whom she described as two black men, walked up to her and demanded drugs.
She claimed they grabbed severely autistic Alejandro and her cellphone and fled when she said she did not have any.
A massive search ensued but came to a halt 12 hours later when a witness called police about a child’s body floating in a canal on the golf course, about four miles from where the alleged abduction occurred.
But Ripley’s husband, and Alexandro’s dad, Aldo Ripley, rushed to his wife’s defense on Saturday when she appeared before a judge on murder and premeditated murder charges.
“We love Alejandro and I don’t agree with whatever they’ve said about my wife,” a distraught Ripley told reporters on Saturday.
Defense Attorney Nelson Rodriguez Varela insisted that the allegations made in court documents don’t prove Ripley’s guilt, however.
“At this point the contents of the arrest affidavit are merely allegations and not proof of Mrs. Ripley’s guilt,” Varela told CNN. “Any conclusion about the case is grossly premature.”
Ripley was charged with with first-degree murder and first-degree premeditated attempted murder.
