What you should know
- Newburgh authorities revealed the first grim details investigators found after an 8-month investigation into the death of a 7-year-old boy in February 2021.
- Peter Cuacuas was taken “lifeless” and weighing only 37 pounds to Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh on February 10 by his father’s girlfriend, Letitia Bravo, police said Friday. The Orange County Medical Examiner found that Cuacuas starved to death.
- Bravo was arrested by the Newburgh City Police Department on October 7. While Cuacuas was charged the same day with criminal negligence manslaughter for his role in Peter’s death.
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NEW YORK – Newburgh authorities revealed the first grim details investigators found after an 8-month investigation into the death of a 7-year-old boy in February 2021.
Peter Cuacuas was taken “lifeless” and weighing only 37 pounds to Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh on February 10 by his father’s girlfriend, Letitia Bravo, police said Friday. The Orange County Medical Examiner found that Cuacuas starved to death.
An investigation launched shortly thereafter, the details of which have been kept secret until now, revealed that Bravo had become the boy’s primary caregiver sometime after the school started in September 2020, according to police. The 39-year-old man, charged with second-degree murder, allegedly watched Cuacuas six days a week and had him locked up in a bedroom since January.
“It is alleged that Bravo kept Peter locked up and secretly in a dormitory behind a door that was locked from the outside. Since January 2021, Peter never connected to the virtual school, despite numerous conversations between Bravo and the Peter’s teachers and other school representatives, “said a statement from the investigators.
At least one day a week the boy’s father, Arturo Cuacuas, is believed to have custody or was visiting with his son. According to the police and the prosecutor, Bravo was responsible for the deterioration of the 7-year-old boy’s condition, but his father did not intervene adequately.
“[Arturo Cuacuas] I knew or should have known that the condition was getting worse and should have taken steps to do something about it, “Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said at a news conference on Friday.
Hoovler took a few minutes at the press conference to defend the length of the investigation, saying that COVID hurdles and staff shortages added to the already laborious time of conducting interviews, analyzing DNA and other aspects of a death investigation.
Bravo was arrested by the Newburgh City Police Department on October 7. While Cuacuas was charged the same day with criminal negligence manslaughter for his role in Peter’s death.
Bravo is scheduled to return to court on October 26. The defendants’ attorney information was not immediately known.
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