New Details About The Identity Of "Little Jacob" And Why His Mother Was Just Arrested On Charges Connected To His Disappearance And Death
Eight months after the body of "Little Jacob" was found, key details are being revealed.
Twitter “Little Jacob,” an unknown child whose body was discovered on a Galveston, Texas beach in October 2017, has been identified as Jayden Alexander Lopez. The boy’s mother, Rebecca Rivera, and her girlfriend, Dania Amezquita Gomez, were arrested earlier this week in connection with his disappearance and death.
Both Rivera and Gomez were charged with “tampering with or fabricating physical evidence” and are being held at Galveston County Jail, Galveston Police Chief Vernon Hale said in a press conference yesterday.
Rivera’s charge is classified as a second-degree felony with a $250,000 bond, while Gomez’s charge is classified as a misdemeanor with a $100,000 bond.
The arrests came nearly eight months into the investigation, jointly conducted by the Galveston Police Department and the FBI’s Texas City Office. After months with no leads, investigators released a sketch of “Little Jacob” last January and established a tip line.
Investigators received hundreds of tips, two of which ultimately led to the arrests. One of the tips, which came in on January 30, “provided names of the guardians of the child,” Galveston Detective Jeff Banks stated during the press conference.
According to Banks, the provider of one of the tips “had personal knowledge of the child.” Banks declined to release any further details regarding the tips, citing the ongoing investigation.
Banks revealed that Rivera and Gomez have been in a relationship for approximately four years, resided in Houston prior to their arrests, and had only come to Galveston “for disposal” of Jayden’s body.
Another child, age 3, was found by investigators in their home. The child shows no signs of neglect and has “been placed with a responsible party,” added Banks. Though investigators confirmed that Jayden did have extended family members, the immediate family had very limited contact with them both before and after his death.
Jayden’s father is also unknown at this time.
“I have been unable to locate who [Jayden’s father] is right now,” Banks stated.
Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, Banks was unable to comment on several key details, including Jayden’s exact cause of death, saying that investigators still need to confirm some details first.
According to ABC13, Rivera claimed that Jayden bumped his head into a wall two weeks before he died. She used alcohol to clean up his injury, and in an argument with Gomez, accidentally spilled alcohol all over his face.
She claims that on the day Jayden died, he was lethargic and complained of stomach aches. After he died, she put his body in the car and drove him to the ocean because "he liked the water."
Signs of abuse were found on Jayden's body, and Rivera said the marks were from a clothing hanger she beat him with when she was stressed out.
During the press conference, investigators also commented on how this emotionally-taxing investigation affected them personally. FBI Agent Bryan Gaines described Jayden’s death as “an appalling crime that had made our hearts heavy.”
With the identity of “Little Jacob” now released, investigators are now shifting their focus to determining exactly what happened to cause his death.
“We’re still waiting on some evidence to come back, we’re still waiting on some search warrants to come back,” said Banks. “We’ll try to determine the most appropriate charges and go from there.”
Watch the full press conference, detailing the identification of Jayden Lopez and the ongoing investigation into his death, below: