Parents Realize They Accidentally Drowned Their Son

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Transcript

SPEAKER_12 0:08

This is Teichiana Figaroa and Gabriel Hodges, just minutes after realizing their furled autistic son, Cash, was pulled from a lake behind the shop where the family had been living. Earlier that afternoon, Teichiana had left to get food, trusting Gabriel to watch Cash while he slept inside the shop.

SPEAKER_05 0:26

I would never put my f ⁇ ing in this position. I failed my job!

SPEAKER_12 0:31

I failed my ma but something happened during those minutes that ended up with Cash floating f down in the lake. Officers would rush to understand what had happened, but both parents claimed they had no idea how he had gotten outside.

SPEAKER_11 0:48

The gate was locked! The back door was locked!

SPEAKER_07 0:50

I don't understand how we got out. I'm never gonna see you smile again.

SPEAKER_12 0:55

However, as the investigation continued, disturbing clues would begin to surface about what was really happening inside that shop and how this tragedy may have been far more preventable than anyone realized. On March 2nd, 2023, in Gainesville, Florida, a tragic situation would unfold at a shopping plaza on Northwest 23rd Street. A family had been living inside a room at a pet grooming shop in the plaza. That afternoon, the child's mother left briefly to get food, while the father and their four-year-old son remained inside. While the father slept, the young boy woke up and wandered outside alone. Security cameras would later show him running behind the buildings toward a nearby retention pond. Moments later, he slipped down the grassy edge and f into the water. Nearly 40 minutes later, after the child was reported missing, the father discovered him in the pond and pulled him out as people nearby called 911. And as deputies rushed to the scene, it would unfortunately be far too late.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

He was asleep. Please, please come back. Come on, boy, come on, baby mama, come on! Come on! Come on! Come on, sir! Please come back, please! Please come out!

SPEAKER_12 3:06

When deputies arrived on scene, they were met with complete disbelief at what they were seeing. However, the first deputies on scene were focused on one thing, saving the child's life before anything else. At the moment, nothing appeared out of the ordinary, but later deputies would make a horrifying discovery. But for now, they had only one mission: save the little boy's life.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

You got his mask. Come on, baby.

SPEAKER_09 3:48

I don't know if it was going to be running, but he did. Some water came out of him when I was running. He fell? Yeah. Is the bag up more flat or lower than it?

SPEAKER_08 3:57

Pull him a little bit down. Get him flat. Lower him on the back. Did you ever get a pulse hold?

SPEAKER_12 4:10

Unfortunately for the little boy, there was still no sign of him breathing. As medics continued performing CPR, they rushed him to the hospital, still holding on to hope that he might survive. However, one crucial question remained. What had led up to this situation? And for both his parents to have no idea of what had happened seemed odd. With that, deputies approached the already distorted mother, Teichiana, trying to calm her down and have a better understanding of what had happened.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Oh no! Oh no!

SPEAKER_06 4:49

Oh God! Babe! Babe! Oh my God! Oh my God! Did I feel both anything? Please tell me.

SPEAKER_18 5:17

Oh my God!

SPEAKER_02 5:20

He doesn't stay with the water! My son!

SPEAKER_09 5:30

One or two to save on the pond, and then we need to get 10-12 with whoever the kids carry a car walk around the house, dude.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

I have a very much my baby. He was more out ballot, I say, please. You just turned more. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_18 5:46

Oh ho ho figure outfit.

SPEAKER_06 5:55

Please tell me my son.

SPEAKER_08 5:57

I can't see that. He's a name of the friend.

SPEAKER_06 5:59

Please, please. Please don't channel one.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

We're gonna figure it out, okay? We're gonna work. They're gonna work on them, okay? They're working on it. For some time, alright?

SPEAKER_05 6:12

What do you mean? What do you mean? I was bumping his chest. Water was coming up. Please tell me he's coming. Please tell him it's okay.

SPEAKER_08 6:20

He's going to the hospital. Is it too late? I know that's terrifying to hear. You said you went to the store real quick. Oh we didn't get food.

SPEAKER_05 6:31

Yeah. I'm only gone for like 10-15 minutes. Listen, listen, what we don't ever have much talk about side by himself. This never happens. I don't know. I don't know how he got outside. He was yeah, he was asleep. And my son was sleeping on a couch. I don't know how, please. It's not our fault. We don't do this. My son is very taking care of. I watch my son every day. He's with me every day. I would never put my son in this position.

SPEAKER_18 6:58

I swear.

SPEAKER_05 7:00

I swear.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Please, please, please. Yes!

SPEAKER_12 7:06

In the middle of all this chaos, Teichiana began explaining what she believed had happened. Through her screams, she told deputies that she had left her baby boy with his father, sleeping inside the shop where they had been living. She said she had only been gone for about 20 minutes, and when she returned, they couldn't find her little boy, Cash. With this information, deputies knew they needed to move quickly to figure out was her story true or was there something she was hiding? But before deputies could figure out what had happened, they would first need to transport both the mother Tachiana and the father Gabriel to the hospital.

SPEAKER_05 7:42

Babe, go grab my keys and lock up the shop. Go grab my keys and lock up the shop.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

I don't got shoes on either.

SPEAKER_18 8:14

They would have seen They would have seen I failed my child.

SPEAKER_06 8:29

I failed my b oh I I failed my s and I failed my s oh my god, I protect him, I protect him, dude!

SPEAKER_05 8:45

I protect my b I always protect my baby. And mom gonna protect them this time.

SPEAKER_06 8:51

Oh my fuck I feel so fing stupid.

SPEAKER_12 8:55

Before they were transported, they returned to the shop where they had been living so they could put some shoes on. However, deputies didn't yet realize that inside that very same room, they would later discover something that would turn the entire case in a new direction.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Fucking shut the fuck up!

SPEAKER_12 9:16

Now, imagine seeing so much more. Well that's why we went all out and decided to create channels in every niche, which are still based on true crime for you to enjoy. I mean, who doesn't like seeing people's reactions like these? From no commentary to just interrogation. Because I know some of you guys hate that, but that's not the end. We really enjoy what we are building, so we have an exclusive Patreon community where they get first hand access to anything we post and all uncensored footage and images. And some of the things are truly horrifying. It was not in the f just as deputies were preparing to transport both parents to the hospital, someone arrived at the shop, who was far more involved than anyone had expected. Her name was Celeste, the owner of the shop where the family had been living. She didn't know it yet, but she would later give a statement that would place both parents in a very vulnerable position. For now, deputies needed to understand how she was connected to the situation.

SPEAKER_16 11:32

Oh my six seventy one. He had the extra, but when she started working for me like two months, almost two months ago, I told him to go ahead and give her the key because she was gonna be working in the shop. And then but then I had had breast cancer surgery in January, so I was gonna be down anyway. So she was working the shop because it was easier for her to remember some here because he's not tested. So you know, so everything's gonna be fine. I called her to see how today was. And um she had the checkers in her hand, and I said, Oh, she said, Yeah, I just stepped out to go get checkers and um gave in uh cash her at the shop, and I said, Okay, and she walks in and she's like, Where's cash? Um so I I dropped my trailer at home and came straight here. And she I kept calling her, you know, did you find him?

SPEAKER_12 12:44

And then she finally answered and was crying and as deputies and everyone involved made their way to UF Health Shan's Children's Hospital, they received the tragic news that the young Cash has passed away after drowning in the lake.

SPEAKER_05 13:15

He just gave me kisses this morning. I was just I put him for his nap.

SPEAKER_07 13:19

I just I was just wearing my b I'm never gonna see him smile again. No another day, please die. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_05 14:26

We're not horrible parents, dude. We did everything we can for even when we had nothing. I mean sure, I mean sure it's my I mean his father I took everything. I did everything right. No, no one is no one is not there. I mean I play myself, that's a problem.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

I play myself. Oh my god. Like a like a normal like a normal thing, like it's not like now, she can lose her movie.

SPEAKER_05 16:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 16:10

Tell her this enemy.

SPEAKER_05 16:22

He loved both of us so much.

SPEAKER_07 16:25

I can only imagine what he was thinking. Oh my god. Baby Oh no. What am I supposed to do? I mean, we lost the job. I lost the job, I swear.

SPEAKER_12 17:08

Unfortunately, Teichiana, Gabriel, and Celeste were completely devastated after the news was delivered to them. However, officers could no longer treat the situation as just an accident. With cash now gone, the case had to be handled as a investigation, and investigators needed to determine exactly what had happened leading up to the tragedy. What followed next would involve detectives questioning both parents, where a major discovery would soon be made. But before that could happen, deputies back at the scene needed to gather as much evidence as possible so investigators would know exactly what questions needed to be asked. With that, they regrouped and began planning their next steps based on what they knew so far.

SPEAKER_09 17:51

I think we're we're good so far. The dad was supposedly asleep inside and the mom was at all checkers. Mom was at checkers. Is this their car? I don't know.

SPEAKER_08 18:09

Those two asked neighbors, they said they don't have any cameras that face off the back of that house.

SPEAKER_09 18:14

Alright. Um, as soon as Panda gets on scene, we'll find out what he wants us to do with the business and everything like that. And the scene, when we hit that, we'll start cutting some people loose from here. Um I believe forensics is in route, so they're probably gonna photograph and do everything and all that crap before we leave, but uh go from there. Alright, you good?

SPEAKER_12 18:37

So far, what deputies had managed to gather was that a f year old boy named Cash had been in the nearby pond while his mother had gone out, believing both Cash and his father were asleep. Teichiana had left to get food from checkers, and she claimed she had only been gone for about 20 minutes. During that time, Cash had apparently woken up, left the room, and gone outside to play, while his father remained fast asleep. The shop they had been staying in belonged to Celeste, who had allowed the family to live there temporarily so they could get back on their feet financially. But now, deputies needed to verify the story. They began searching for surveillance footage and other evidence, hoping nearby CCTV cameras could confirm what really happened, because the situation was slowly beginning to look like there might be more to the story.

SPEAKER_13 19:27

Okay, but my daughter's in here.

SPEAKER_15 19:30

Is someone already in here trying to get footage?

SPEAKER_13 19:33

I don't know. Justin owns this place. He does glass blowing, and my daughter has her glass blowing today.

SPEAKER_15 19:42

Do you have cameras out back though? You know?

SPEAKER_13 19:45

I don't know. I can ask Justin. Okay.

SPEAKER_14 19:47

Would you mind doing that?

SPEAKER_13 19:51

There's my daughter. Oh, his his gate's open. He has like dogs.

SPEAKER_14 20:00

He does? Yeah. Well, they don't bite.

SPEAKER_13 20:02

Well, I don't know. Stay away from him. I don't like dogs, I don't know. I know he has cameras in here.

SPEAKER_15 20:07

Yeah, we just need to see if there's any out back.

SPEAKER_13 20:10

Where's Justin? Where is Justin? Justin, where is he? Yeah, blowing up on here, and that was scary.

unknown 20:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_15 20:24

Hey. Is there already an officer back there?

unknown 20:27

A couple of there is an officer. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_15 20:33

What's happening?

SPEAKER_10 20:35

Is it back this way? No, sir, they're in the office right here. 1545? Yeah, 37. Just play it from here. Oh, I see he went banking and went back in. Yeah. But he's down here. Boom. Fell in 47. 164. 18. I'm gonna pause it right there so y'all can 48. Yeah. 48 18. Yeah, he fell in here, but he was found down there. Yeah, so battery is trying to leave down.

SPEAKER_08 21:20

No, he didn't. That's raw. Yeah, yeah. You see he comes out, he comes back in. He comes out there. At 448. Yep. So he he comes out, he comes out first at 1645 on the camera. Okay. And then he comes back. And then he re-emerges at 1647. And at 1648. But he's got it false in there, so if y'all uh we flashed down, I'm not gonna be able to watch it. Yeah, don't watch it.

SPEAKER_09 21:50

And so in right here, yeah, he's found. Yeah, okay. So almost 40 minutes later.

SPEAKER_12 21:56

So the one it had been nearly forty minutes after. After Cash had fed into the lake, and by the time Teichiana and Gabriel fed him, it was already too late. The chances of saving him were extremely small. However, with this new information back at the hospital, it was now time for Celeste to shed more light on the relationship between Teichiana and Gabriel. What she would say next would begin to turn the investigation upside down.

SPEAKER_16 22:28

So, um, what happened to listen? I'm talking right now, bro. Yeah. So what the fuck? Apparently she left him in there with the baby daddy while she was just like right next door to cut the nails. I said, Why do the shop? So I'm going to shop. No problem. The little boy's just screaming because he's very he's separation with her. Very connected. Very, very Kylie, I'm at the hospital right now, okay? Huh? Yes, yes. Right now, let me go. Okay, alright. I love you. It's my daughter. The one that's pregnant. So I I when I came in the shop, I was a hundred cash crying and the guy, and I was like, oh in the back. And she comes, she comes shooting out the freaking um because I was blowing her phone around. She comes shooting out the smoke shop, and she was like, I was over there cutting the nails. So I'm like, no. I'm like, oh freaking. So he was like, when was that?

SPEAKER_17 24:02

A few weeks ago. A couple weeks ago. Okay. So he's only now a couple weeks, so very soon after he came and staying there. Okay.

SPEAKER_16 24:09

And he was because she's not you make her mad. She's like, catch stop it.

SPEAKER_15 24:17

Oh, we can reach her line. Well, we did follow on the book. That's really so birthday. I'm gonna say honestly.

SPEAKER_12 24:38

As detectives continued questioning Celeste to better understand the dynamic between Tachiana and Gabriel, she unknowingly pushed the investigation in a new direction. Up until that point, detectives believed Cash's death had been an accident. However, what Celeste explained gave them a new perspective. She told investigators that Gabriel often slept extremely deeply, and that she believed it was due to substance abuse, mentioning he had struggled with drugs in the past. This information immediately raised new concerns. Investigators now had to consider the possibility that while Cash was outside alone, his parents may have been impaired or unable to properly supervise him. What once appeared to be a tragic accident was now being looked at as something far more serious, a potential case of child neglect. With this new perspective on the case, deputies back at the scene began investigating the shop more closely, focusing on the room where the family had been sleeping.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

Somebody's gonna have to hold that you want, I guess.

SPEAKER_09 26:43

Park right up front.

SPEAKER_12 26:46

Hey, pull up a during their first inspection of the room, deputies quickly looked over the area and didn't immediately notice anything unusual. However, when they returned for a closer, second look, they began to uncover several items connected to drug use. Inside the bedroom area of the grooming shop, investigators located a tablet with a broken screen covered in white powder, less than a gram of an unknown white substance, a rolled-up dollar bill with powder residue, and a shoebox filled with paraphernalia. They also found about 6.4 grams of suspected cannabis in a jar, a small bag containing a white crystalline substance, and another small amount of an unknown substance. Testing later confirmed that the crystalline substance was methamphetamine, supporting Celeste's earlier statements about possible drug use. Because of this discovery, investigators at the hospital requested that Gabriel provide a urine sample to test for drugs.

SPEAKER_17 28:50

We're gonna ask all of you if that's Celeste and just you know if we can go through there and just make sure we don't make sure that's yeah. Is that good with you that we're in here? Okay, thank you so much. And just to make sure you are staying in a break room over the Celeste grooming salon, right? Yeah. Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_12 29:14

With Gabriel's urine sample secured, detectives turned their attention to Teichiana. What she was about to say could either confirm the story everyone believed or completely unravel it.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

What was that? I'm dead with it. I'm a detective. Yeah, I'm sorry we're gonna have to talk about this. Um you were living with him at Solastics for a little bit. Yeah. Do you remember when it was that you moved into Solastics a month ago? Yeah, yeah, right before my surgery. Yeah, okay. And you work there, obviously. And you do the dog running.

SPEAKER_05 29:56

And uh and you're staying at her uh yes, temporary because she's getting tumbled. Yes, okay. You know, like I'm watching TV like we normally do because it's the end of the day.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

He might run it down and he said, Where's cash? And I said, What do you mean? He's like, No, he's not.

SPEAKER_05 30:19

That's when we started panicking, we went out the front door and running around the parking lot, so we didn't even check the bag, and that's what he was gonna see.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

I was gonna see you more. I was pushing, pushing, pushing.

SPEAKER_05 30:48

It was more coming out! I did Gabe trigger you because he said that he didn't know where he was, or did Gabe trigger you because he just wasn't with Gabe thought he was with me, I guess, when he had woken up, but I was like, no, he was on the couch. Gabe woke up when I woke him up. Like, I'm not, like, I'm not, I know I'm not making okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

So you're making a you're making sense.

SPEAKER_05 31:12

You know, like he's trying to be like, you know, yeah. So yeah. And we went and and when they went both went to sleep, and then we went, it took it now around 1.45. She texted me around like 2.30 saying that Bella was being dropped off at 3 15. Bella got dropped off at 3 20.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

After Bella got dropped off, Cash was still asleep because I had gotten up when I heard the door open and Cash was still asleep, and that's when I wake up. Whoa.

SPEAKER_05 31:37

The time on the checkers back, it tells you the time I got my food. I ordered my food. I sat in there, waiting, like waiting for my food to be given to me because Checkers says they do the hot wings fresh, so it's been 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I hold my ass back. Boom. Like I didn't stop at another store, I wasn't all gagging. And then I got out, I sat at the car room and I turned my car off, I grabbed the food with the drinks, and I go inside. Like, and then I was like, I turned the lights on, I go back there, and I place food down and I walk back this way. And then I was like, Yay, and he said, Oh while you have food, he walked past the couch. So it wasn't like he, you know, like the lights weren't on in the room. So like when he walked past the, I mean he's like, Oh food. And I guess when he turned around after he turned the lights on, he's like, Well, where's cash? And I said, Well, what do you mean? He should be on the couch. And he's like, No, he's not. Then I saw the dog room door closed, so maybe he had locked himself in the dog room. That's why at first we panicked. Went out the front door and we looked all over the hot. And we should have walked in the back. I don't, I don't. But I knew if I checked the back first, I could have probably, I don't know how long, I don't know.

SPEAKER_12 32:48

As detectives questioned the mother, they began to get a clearer picture of what she claimed had happened that day. The story she painted made it seem like a tragic accident, one where both parents appeared innocent. But what neither Tachiana nor Gabriel knew was that officers had already discovered the drugs inside the room where they had been staying. With this new information, detectives decided to approach Gabriel differently, this time taking a far more direct line of questioning.

SPEAKER_03 33:22

Tell me about how you found out that he wasn't in there. Walk me through that.

SPEAKER_14 33:27

She woke up and then, or she walked in and she said she had she said, I got some food. I woke up. First thing I did was look for him. I was like, where's my kid at? First thing, so I walked out, asked her. She said he's on the couch sleeping. I walked back in there, and maybe I didn't see him. Looked, wasn't there. So I started searching the building, looking through all the doors, opening everything up. Where is he? Yelling his name. I was like, where is he? She's like, I don't know. I was like, well, he's not in here. So we start freaking out. We're around a building, so I run around a building. Outside. Outside.

SPEAKER_03 34:05

Do you call 901 or who called 91?

SPEAKER_14 34:08

No, I think one of the other kid dudes did I know what my phone was. Okay. Something just told me to go to the water. I don't know what it was. So I just told me to go to the water. I'll go to the water. See where the like.

SPEAKER_03 34:21

Now is he close to close.

SPEAKER_14 34:27

I mean electricity.

SPEAKER_12 34:37

Eventually, Gabriel agreed to provide a blood sample so investigators could determine whether there were any drugs in his system. As the days passed, investigators were still waiting for the results of the toxicology tests taken from Gabriel. When those results finally came back, they confirmed what detectives had already begun to suspect. The testing revealed that methamine was present in Gabriel's system, indicating that he had been under the influence around the time Cash had dropped. For investigators, this discovery raised even more serious concerns. If Gabriel had been impaired that afternoon, it could help explain how a f year old child was able to wander outside unnoticed and make his way all the way to the pond. What once appeared to be a tragic accident was now beginning to look like something far more preventable. With this new evidence in hand, detectives believed they now had enough to move forward. They began preparing manslaughter charges related to Cash's death, arguing that the level of supervision that day had fallen far below what was needed to keep the young boy safe. In the end, investigators determined that Cash, a f boy, had dropped after wandering into a nearby retention pond. The medical examiner ruled his d an accidental dru. However, the investigation revealed drugs inside the room where the family had been staying, and toxicology later showed Gabriel Hodges had amphetamine in his system that day. Because of this, detectives believed Cash had not been properly supervised. As a result, investigators prepared manslaughter charges against both Gabriel Hodges and Teichiana Figueroa. However, months later, prosecutors ultimately decided not to move forward with the charges. The shop owner, Celeste Gomez, was not charged with any crime and cooperated with investigators throughout the case.