FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Friday marked the second day of the murder trial of Analiz Osceola, who is accused of killing her 3-year-old stepson Ahziya about eight years ago in Broward County.
Ahziya’s biological mother Karen Cypress Delgado, a prosecution witness, testified as Osceola faces charges of aggravated manslaughter, child neglect, and providing false information to law enforcement.
During her testimony in court, Cypress Delgado said she showed up to see Ahziya at their home in Hollywood when his father, Nelson Osceola, shocked her with the tragic news.
“Both of them just looked at me crazy,” Cypress Delgado said. “And, that’s when he said, ‘He is deceased.’”
Before Ahziya died, there was already a documented history of abuse in the family, according to state authorities. Cypress Delgado described some of what led her to lose custody of her son.
“I had been drinking and we was in a hotel room and I had fell asleep and he had gotten out of the hotel room and got in the elevator and ended up downstairs,” Cypress Delgado said.
Ahziya’s stepmother told detectives that he had vanished overnight on March 19, 2015, according to the arrest report. The Seminole Tribe of Florida Police Department, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, and the Hollywood Police Department searched for Ahziya on March 20, 2015.
“I started looking into garbage cans, recycle bins,” Seminole Tribe Officer David Rolon said during his testimony in court on Friday.
Hollywood police officers found Ahziya dead on March 22, 2015, inside his home. Sgt. Mark Kemp said he searched the laundry room. Officer Lazaro Fernandez searched the laundry room again and found Ahziya’s body inside a garbage bag that had been stuffed into a box.
During opening statements on Thursday, Assistant State Attorney Neva Rainford-Smith told the jury that the evidence was going to show that Analiz Osceola covered up Ahziya’s murder, and Attorney William Cone, Jr., who is defending her, told the jury that the only thing Ahziya’s stepmother was guilty of was of lying.
Related stories
- April 29, 2015: Stepmother of boy found dead in Hollywood home gets bond reduced
- March 26, 2015: Father of boy found dead in Hollywood home released from jail
- March 26, 2015: Father, stepmother of boy found dead in Hollywood home arrested
- March 23, 2015: Siblings of toddler found dead to stay with family members
- March 22, 2015: 3-year-old boy found dead in Hollywood home
- March 20, 2015: Police search for missing 3-year-old in Hollywood