Florida mom charged in 'horrible' beating death of 4-year-old adopted son: 'Turns our stomachs'

A Florida mother is behind bars facing multiple charges in the death of her 4-year-old son, whom she adopted from Haiti in April 2023, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Patricia Saintizaire, 36, is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and tampering with a witness in the death of Bryan Boyer, Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday.

"He's dead because she beat him to death," Judd said. "It is beyond my wildest imagination how anyone could abuse a beautiful little fella like this child was abused and neglected."

Saintizaire also has a 16-year-old son she adopted from Haiti, who is now in protective custody.

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The sheriff's office said it was notified by staff at Orlando Health Hospital on Thursday, May 2, of a 4-year-old boy who died "under what appeared to be suspicious circumstances" after a medical exam showed an abdominal bleed that couldn't be fixed by emergency surgery.

The boy's body was taken to the District 9 Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, which was conducted the following day. The autopsy declared the child died from assault/blunt force trauma and ruled the manner of death as a homicide.

"What we have learned during this investigation just turns our stomachs," Judd said.

The autopsy showed the little boy had old and new scarring on his back that would have occurred during his past year with Saintizaire in the United States. He also had a deep laceration on his liver, which would have affected him immediately and "caused a rapid decline" in his health, the sheriff's office said.

While he had no broken or fractured bones, the autopsy showed bruising and hemorrhaging to his arms and legs. The medical examiner's ultimate decision was that his injuries were consistent with ongoing abuse.

"We don't believe we know all that this child suffered," Judd said.

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Polk County homicide detectives learned the boy was initially taken to Heart of Florida hospital in Davenport, where the family lived, but was flown to Orlando Health because of his injuries. 

Saintizaire took him to the hospital at the request of her teenage son, who was performing CPR on the child at home beforehand, according to the PCSO. 

When detectives initially spoke with the 16-year-old, he told them he was not abused and never witnessed abuse, but once he was placed in protective custody, he said his adoptive mother told him to "say nothing so I don't get in trouble." He also said Saintizaire threatened to kill him with a gun, the sheriff's office shared.

The teenager also told detectives he and his brother were physically disciplined with a belt and a homemade hitting device when they lived in Haiti before telling them what happened on May 1, the day before the 4-year-old was reported dead.

When the little boy got home from school that afternoon, he was "happy and behaving normally with no injuries," the brother told detectives, which was confirmed in a review of bus and school cameras and by talking to those who interacted with him.

"Despite his abusive treatment, they said he was a happy child," Judd said.

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The teenager said he went to another room in the house for about two hours and did not see or hear what happened to his little brother, but noted that he was "unable to walk on his own and struggled to sit up on his own" when Saintizaire told him to take food to the child.

She allegedly told the teenager that the boy was "faking it" and to just feed him shortly before he became unresponsive, which is when he began performing CPR and insisted they needed to go to the hospital.

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Saintizaire's husband, who was "clearly at work," according to Judd, told detectives he does not handle the discipline of the children. Saintizaire "repeatedly denied" ever using physical discipline as punishment for either child, the sheriff's office said.

When reviewing her phone, detectives found two videos from home surveillance cameras showing Saintizaire allegedly hitting the 4-year-old with an unknown object while he was lying face down on the floor, Judd said. Another video showed her allegedly throwing the boy into a pool with his hands tied behind his back.

"Our number one goal in this organization is to protect the children," Judd said, "and that's why we go after child predators, that's why we go after child pornographers, that's why we go after child abusers and we certainly go after child murderers."