Murder of Elisa Izquierdo

Lopez was most recently denied parole in July 2018; her next scheduled parole hearing is to be held in July 2020. As of 2019, she remains incarcerated at the maximum security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women.

Elisa has been referred to as a modern-day Cinderella because she had initially been under the protection of a loving father and had befriended Prince Michael of Greece—who had offered to pay for her private tuition until 12th grade—before being placed into the permanent custody of her mother.

Upon hearing news of Gustavo's death, Awilda applied for full, permanent custody of Elisa. She was initially granted temporary custody of the child. Upon hearing the initial awarding of Elisa's temporary custody to Awilda Lopez, Elsa Canizares—the cousin of Gustavo Izquierdo—challenged the ruling and herself applied for custody of Elisa; citing the documented abuse Elisa had previously endured during the unsupervised weekend visits with her mother. Both the head teacher of the school Elisa still attended and Prince Michael of Greece also wrote personal letters to Judge Phoebe Greenbaum, opposing the initial temporary custody of Elisa awarded to Awilda Lopez upon the death of her father and endorsing Elsa Canizares's application to obtain permanent custody of Elisa. Furthermore, in his letter to Judge Greenbaum, Prince Michael of Greece emphasized his intentions to pay for Elisa's education at Brooklyn Friends School should Elsa Canizares be awarded custody of the child.

The increasing concerns of staff at Public School 126 regarding evident abuse were also reported to the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities. Reportedly, the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities soon replied to the school that their concerns were "not reportable" due to a lack of direct evidence of child abuse or neglect. As such, this report was rejected. A further factor in this decision was the fact Elisa had been under court-ordered caseworker supervision. In response to the school having reporting the suspected abuse of her daughter to the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities and a subsequent home visit by staff at the school, Awilda—by this time known to have reverted to regular crack cocaine use—withdrew Elisa from Public School 126 in the spring of 1995. She made no effort to enroll Elisa in any other school.

Reportedly, despite the fact that in addition to having by this time borne six children (three of whom had been born after Elisa), Awilda targeted Elisa for almost all of the physical, mental, and emotional abuse she inflicted upon her children. After withdrawing her from her school, Elisa was locked in her bedroom, was denied any opportunity to socialize with her siblings or to leave the apartment and was denied access to the toilet—being forced to use a chamber pot. Neighbors also reported hearing sounds of Elisa being beaten and otherwise abused; later reporting hearing Elisa's repeatedly pleading with her mother to stop hitting her and stating such pleas as: "Mommy, Mommy, please stop! No more! I'm sorry." Some neighbors did report their suspicions of child abuse to child welfare authorities; however, no effective action was taken. Other neighbors reportedly knew of the abuse Elisa and—to a much lesser degree—her siblings endured, but failed to notify authorities.

In response to the death of Elisa Izquierdo, the then-Mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani, instigated an urgent review of the city's child welfare system. This review inspired the creation of the Administration for Children's Services—an agency solely devoted to the issue of child welfare in New York.

Elisa's Law is designed to balance the need for increased accountability through public awareness and government oversight with the privacy interests of individuals involved in child protective services cases—particularly with regards to the deaths of children previously reported to child welfare services as suffering any form of neglect or abuse. All reports pertaining to the deaths of children resulting from child abuse available for public scrutiny do not name the actual deceased child or children, or the actual caseworker(s) assigned to investigate reports of suspected child abuse or neglect relating to the deceased child or children in question; however, these reports do list each and every complaint and/or report submitted relating to the child or children, and the agency's actual response. In addition, these public records contain an assessment detailing whether or not the agency's overall response had been adequate.

Although Awilda Lopez initially became eligible for parole in 2010, she has remained incarcerated since August 1996.

Described by authorities in New York City as the "worst case of child abuse they had ever seen," the life and death of Elisa Izquierdo first made city, then national headlines when it became clear that the city's child welfare system (now the Administration for Children's Services) had missed numerous opportunities to intervene with her family and ultimately save her life. These failures to protect Elisa subsequently became the inspiration for Elisa's Law, a major restructuring of the New York City Child Welfare System; increasing accountability of all parties involved in child welfare within the city and reducing areas of confidentiality relating to public disclosure in cases of this nature. Elisa's Law was implemented in February 1996.

On June 25, 1996, Awilda Lopez pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of her daughter in a hearing held before Judge Alvin Schlesinger at the New York's State Supreme Court. Upon the advice of her attorney, Daniel Ollen, Lopez pleaded guilty to this deal offered by the prosecution team with the knowledge she would become eligible for parole after serving 15 years' imprisonment.

On October 29, 1996, Elisa's stepfather, Carlos Lopez, was sentenced to serve between one-and-a-half and three years in prison, to run consecutive with the sentence he was serving at the time of Elisa's death. This sentence was in relation to one specific instance of physical abuse dating from October 31, 1995 in which he had repeatedly banged Elisa's head against a concrete wall in the presence of her siblings.

On February 12, 1996, Governor George Pataki formally signed Elisa's Law into legislation. This legislation, named in Elisa's honor, was signed into law in the presence of several relatives of Elisa, plus numerous social workers and school teachers who had all attempted to intervene and/or inform child welfare authorities in their collective efforts to prevent the child being with or remaining in the awarded custody of her mother.

On March 14, 1995, an anonymous letter was posted to the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities. The author of this letter stated that Awilda Lopez had cut off much of Elisa's hair and had begun locking her in a dark room for extensive periods of time. Six days later, Elisa was admitted to hospital with a fractured shoulder—the wound having been untreated for three days.

Lieutenant Luis Gonzalez, recollecting the extensive physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse suffered by Elisa Izquierdo (1995)

Elisa Izquierdo's funeral was held on November 29, 1995. The service was officiated by the Reverend Gianni Agostinelli, who informed the estimated 300 mourners in attendance that Elisa had been murdered not only by her own mother, but by the "silence of many, by the neglect of child-welfare institutions and the moral mediocrity that has intoxicated our neighborhoods".

Following Elisa's death and subsequent public funeral, her life story became the subject of numerous local and national media articles, from local tabloids such as the New York Daily News and The New York Post to her story being given front page coverage of the December 11, 1995 edition of Time Magazine under the title "A Shameful Death". Elisa's story was also featured on an August 1996 episode of Dateline NBC. Much of the media coverage devoted to this case was openly scathing of New York's child welfare agencies.

In 1993, Gustavo Izquierdo formed plans to relocate with Elisa to his native Cuba. He is known to have purchased airline tickets for himself and his daughter, with the travel date being May 26, 1994. However, in May, Gustavo was admitted to hospital with acute respiratory complications (subsequently diagnosed as lung cancer). Gustavo Izquierdo died on May 26; the same date he had planned to travel to Cuba with Elisa. Upon hearing news of Gustavo's death, the director of Elisa's school, Phyllis Bryce, contacted a family court judge to express the grave concerns of both herself and numerous members of the school's staff as to the child's safety should her mother gain custody of her.

Prince Michael of Greece, reflecting on a personal letter he wrote to Judge Phoebe Greenbaum endorsing Elsa Canizares's application to be awarded custody of Elisa Izquierdo in 1994

Awilda Lopez's application to obtain permanent custody of Elisa was approved by Judge Greenbaum in September 1994.

The public outrage at Elisa's death was fuelled by revelations that despite Awilda Lopez's evident and spiraling drug addiction and the obvious and increasing signs of the ongoing physical, mental, and emotional abuse Elisa was suffering at the hands of her mother and stepfather, not only had a judge awarded custody of the child to her mother in 1994 in spite of protestations from her family and school, but numerous instances of concerns for Elisa's safety reported to child welfare agencies such as the Manhattan Child Welfare Authorities by various individuals since that date had ultimately failed to remove Elisa from the custody of her mother.

Following Elisa's death, Judge Greenbaum was subjected to severe criticism regarding her 1994 decision to award custody of Elisa to Awilda Lopez as opposed to Elsa Canizares. Judge Greenbaum responded to this criticism by claiming she had been merely following procedural recommendations when she had made her custodial decision. In response to Greenbaum's claim, then-Mayor of New York City Rudolph Giulliani would state to the media: "The judge ultimately makes the decision, based on all the facts and records, and is supposed to go behind those things [to] make determinations."

Both Gustavo Izquierdo and Elisa's teachers did inform authorities of the abuse Elisa was enduring at the hands of her mother. These revelations were also disclosed by Elisa herself to a social worker and her father did apply in 1992 to have Awilda Lopez's visitation rights ceased; however, the courts ruled that the visitation rights could continue, albeit with the conditions Awilda must not strike or otherwise harm her daughter.

In November 1991, Awilda Lopez secured the right to obtain unsupervised visitation rights to Elisa: this ruling awarded her custody of the child every second weekend. Reportedly, Awilda's two oldest children informed relatives that throughout these unsupervised visits, Elisa would be beaten and neglected by her mother and stepfather. These relatives did not inform authorities of these revelations.

In 1990, Gustavo enrolled his daughter in the Montessori preschool, although shortly thereafter, his incipient ailing health complicated his ability to pay for Elisa's schooling. As Elisa was such an outstanding and promising student and Gustavo such a dedicated father, both teachers and the school principal introduced her to one of the school's patrons, Prince Michael of Greece, in 1993. Reportedly, upon his arrival at the school, Elisa leaped into Prince Michael's arms, and stayed by his side for the rest of the day. He in turn offered to pay for Elisa's private tuition at the independent Brooklyn Friends School until 12th grade; she in turn responded to this gesture with a handwritten note expressing her gratitude. Occasionally thereafter, Prince Michael of Greece would send Elisa small gifts, to which she would express her thanks by responding with drawings or notes.

The same year Elisa was enrolled in preschool, a social worker signed an affidavit stating that Awilda had successfully beaten her addiction, had secured permanent accommodation within the Rutgers Houses project in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and had married a maintenance worker named Carlos Lopez, with whom she was now expecting her fourth child. In December 1990, having given birth to a daughter named Taisha, she regained custody of her two oldest children.

Elisa Izquierdo (February 11, 1989 – November 22, 1995) was a six-year-old Puerto Rican–Cuban-American girl who died from a brain hemorrhage inflicted by her mother, Awilda Lopez, at the peak of a prolonged and increasing campaign of physical, mental, and emotional child abuse conducted between 1994 and 1995.

Elisa Izquierdo was born on February 11, 1989, in Woodhull Hospital Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Gustavo, was a Cuban immigrant who had emigrated to America with aspirations to become a dance teacher, whereas her mother, Awilda, was a Puerto Rican raised in Brooklyn. The pair met at a Fort Greene homeless shelter two years prior to Elisa's birth, where Gustavo worked part-time as a cleaner and caterer. Awilda herself was a temporary resident at the shelter, having been evicted from the apartment she shared with a previous partner named Ruben Rivera (with whom she had borne two children) due to the couple's failure to pay rent—in part caused by her extensive usage of narcotics. The two began a temporary relationship, although reportedly, this ended when Gustavo discovered Awilda – at the time pregnant with Elisa – was a regular user of crack cocaine. Concern by her own family as to her extensive usage of drugs resulted in Awilda losing custody of her two eldest children, Rubencino and Kasey, to her own family in January 1989.