FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The trial of the woman prosecutors charged in the murder of 3-year-old Ahziya began on Thursday in Broward County court.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida Police Department, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, and the Hollywood Police Department searched for Ahziya when he vanished after there was already a documented history of abuse.
Police officers were searching for Ahziya on March 20, 2015, and found him dead on March 22, 2015, in Hollywood. The crime scene was at the home that he had shared with his siblings, his father Nelson Osceola, and his stepmother Analiz Osceola.
“This case is about the murder of an innocent child,” Assistant State Attorney Neva Rainford-Smith said in court during her opening statement on Thursday.
Rainford-Smith told the jury that the evidence will show that Analiz Osceola covered up Ahziya’s murder. Attorney William Cone, Jr., who is representing Analiz Osceola, told the jury during his opening statement that the only thing Ahziya’s stepmother was guilty of was of lying.
The trial’s first witness was Dr. Liora Adler, a pediatric emergency doctor who examined Ahziya after he had suffered a bone fracture. Adler said Analiz Osceola reported that Ahziya had some difficulty walking.
Analiz Osceola first told detectives that Ahziya, a wallet, and cash had vanished from their home on March 19, 2015, and the back door was open.
Ahziya’s body was bruised and battered when detectives found him dead in the home. Police officers reported his body was in a trash bag, and inside a toy box that was covered under laundry near a washer and dryer, according to police.
When detectives questioned her, they reported she said that Ahziya “had died during the night” and that she had decided to hide his little body in the laundry room because “she was scared and didn’t know what to do.”
Analiz Osceola faces charges of aggravated manslaughter, child neglect, and providing false information to law enforcement.
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- April 29, 2015: Stepmother of boy found dead in Hollywood home gets bond reduced
- April 10, 2015: DCF says Seminole Tribe was also aware of dead boy’s history of abuse
- March 27, 2015: Arrest report details stepmother’s actions before boy, 3, found dead
- March 26, 2015: Father of boy found dead in Hollywood home released from jail
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