TAMPA, Fla. — Nearly six months before a 12-year old boy died in Indiana in what investigators are describing as a serious case of child abuse, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office met with the boy's family because local authorities had gotten a report of possible abuse.
It was the second child abuse report Manatee deputies had received in a year.
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Investigators first met with the family back on September 5, 2017. A child protective officer responded to Eduardo Posso's grandmother, Delores’, home. The incident report states the grandmother called the law enforcement concerned that her grandson was being abused by his stepmother, Dayan Flores, whose name is spelled Dayana in some court documents. The grandmother told an investigator that she had lunch with her grandson when she noticed a blue bruise on his face next to his eye.
According to authorities, when the grandmother asked the child about the bruise, he told her his stepmother hit him on his head multiple times after she found out he hadn’t finished his homework.
Later in the day, a deputy interviewed the victim, Eduardo, his father, stepmother and Eduardo’s sister. Eduardo, his father and stepmother told the deputy he had hit his face on the trampoline while trying to do a flip. His sister told investigators she saw Eduardo on the trampoline but did not see him fall. The case was closed, and the claims were said to be unfounded because “no crime occurred”.
Then, on November 1, 2018, Manatee deputies and child protective investigators responded to another child abuse report regarding 11-year-old Eduardo Posso and his stepmother.
A report came in that his stepmother hit Eduardo in the face, leaving a bruise.
After interviewing Eduardo, his father, stepmom and siblings, the case was closed. Eduardo told detectives he was juggling and missed a few that hit him in the face. The case was closed after investigators wrote that Eduardo obtained the bruises during juggling practice. It was noted in the report that the family was a circus performing family.
Luis Posso, Eduardo’s father, and Dayan Flores are in jail in Bloomington, Indiana. Posso is charged with neglect, criminal confinement and domestic battery. Flores is charged with criminal confinement and neglect.
A release from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Bloomington, Indiana says deputies were called to the hospital on May 24 to investigate after 12-year-old Eduardo died, and doctors found multiple signs of abuse and starvation.